Saturday, September 18, 2004
Old Media sitting there scratching their heads.....
Because of things like talk radio and blogging, there has been a true democratization of the news media, freeing it from bottlenecks...the news goes on 7/24 (with a bit of slowup on weekend and holidays, but even then, the bloggers go on checking info and talking.)
In the Washington Times, there is this neat discussion of the new era. A quote:
It's no surprise, of course, the conspiratorial, central-planning mindset of the mainstream media kingpins conjures up a top-down plot where there is none and where none could ever be orchestrated even if the Bush White House wanted one. Bloggers take orders from no one. But with that irresistible platter of publishing freedom comes a tall glass of responsibility. For serious blogging pundits and news-gatherers and discussion board operators, cyber-cred is everything. Mainstream media anthropologists often describe the blogger culture as "free-wheeling" — ignoring the medium's flip side of brutally quick-fixing and 24/7 fact-checking.
You can check out the rest of the article here
We have entered an era where the old media manipulation of the public will never quite be the same....there are too many alternatives. And for those of us who want to be active in it, all it takes is a computer, an internet account and a quick trip to blogger.com or one of the other blog hosts and voila, we are now a news provider as well.
MSM would do well to go back and do what they always claimed they did...reporting that was as unbiased as possible, showing the facts and allowing the viewers to make up their minds, and making sure editorial comment was clearly indicated.
I'm not holding my breath, though.
UPDATE: This story is getting more than US coverage. See this article from the New Zealand Herald: Writers in pyjamas leave the professionals behind
In the Washington Times, there is this neat discussion of the new era. A quote:
It's no surprise, of course, the conspiratorial, central-planning mindset of the mainstream media kingpins conjures up a top-down plot where there is none and where none could ever be orchestrated even if the Bush White House wanted one. Bloggers take orders from no one. But with that irresistible platter of publishing freedom comes a tall glass of responsibility. For serious blogging pundits and news-gatherers and discussion board operators, cyber-cred is everything. Mainstream media anthropologists often describe the blogger culture as "free-wheeling" — ignoring the medium's flip side of brutally quick-fixing and 24/7 fact-checking.
You can check out the rest of the article here
We have entered an era where the old media manipulation of the public will never quite be the same....there are too many alternatives. And for those of us who want to be active in it, all it takes is a computer, an internet account and a quick trip to blogger.com or one of the other blog hosts and voila, we are now a news provider as well.
MSM would do well to go back and do what they always claimed they did...reporting that was as unbiased as possible, showing the facts and allowing the viewers to make up their minds, and making sure editorial comment was clearly indicated.
I'm not holding my breath, though.
UPDATE: This story is getting more than US coverage. See this article from the New Zealand Herald: Writers in pyjamas leave the professionals behind
# posted by Knitting a Conundrum @ 8:26 AM 
