Politics and Media

Dr. Randall Baker, Professor and Dean of Academic Affairs at the Azerbaijan Diplomatic Academy, examines how several key epochs of information technology have brought us to the Information Age. The author argues that in non-democratic countries, it has been relatively easy to control the dissemination of “subversive” information by “owning” the news outlets. We rarely look at the process and pace of change itself, but more at its manifestations. The way in which the technical ability to convey information, since the invention of writing, has changed is a good example of a “geometrical or exponential curve” in which the accumulating body of ideas promotes ever more change at a faster and faster speeds. The major impact of most technological changes can be covered by the term “unintended consequences”. So it is with the way that different information media have changed the operation of the political process. This paper examines this relationship through several key epochs of information technology that have brought us to the Information Age.

Authors: Randall Baker
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