To merely imply that the Internet has changed the world forever is cliché. By this point, everyone knows that. However, could the Internet revolutionize the media? It would seem logical.
Howard Dean used the Internet as the cornerstone of his renegade candidacy last year, and it worked to a large degree. Certainly, the Internet will affect how political campaigns are going to be run in years to come. However, the Internet’s next incredible accomplishment (beyond Google) may come from a less likely source: the blog.
What is a blog? Short hand for “web-log,” blogs have begun to increase in both prominence and prestige over the past few years, particularly in this election cycle. Run by individuals like you and me, these online journals cover topics as far reaching as recipe sharing to political discourse. Blogs represent a revolution in the ease of the publication of one’s thoughts and ideas rival to that of the Gutenberg press. Anyone with an Internet connection and free time can now go to one of many free blog-hosting sites and within minutes be up and publishing their ideas for the entire world to read. And it is because of this that blogs hold the potential to disrupt the mainstream media’s power.
The mainstream media (i.e. network broadcast stations, national print media, and cable news stations) has, forebodingly, been called the gatekeepers of the news. These gatekeepers decide what news you read, see and hear. They decide who tells it to you. How the story should be “spun.” And any number of other factors that ultimately affect your understanding of events happening around the world.
This is the beginning of the end.
Just one jump into the so-called “blogosphere” and the potential is apparent. Thousands of individuals from around the world can now chime in and be heard. Research can debunk false claims, and now one has thousands of people checking the facts, instead of a few so-called experts. Instead of the media simply reporting the news and citizens listening, blogs provide for a much-needed conversation. In fact, it would be accurate to describe the world of online blogging as “news about the news,” in which everyday people can check the power of the media elite. Much of the discussion on blogs deals with how the news is reported and spun, and the success of this decentralization of media prominence has already been well-recorded.
It was not the mainstream media who broke the Monica Lewinsky scandal, but an independent journalist named Matt Drudge with a relatively simplistic website. This man is almost single-handedly responsible for creating one of the biggest scandals of our time, and he did so even before Internet publishing had reached its current levels of ease. For weeks now, the blogosphere has been chatting about the now-infamous Swift Boats ad, cutting through the spin from both sides, be it ad hominem attacks upon the veteran’s credibility from the left or on exaggerations from the right. Be it a source for facts, commentary or perspective, blogs are in the beginning stages of changing the way you get the news.
This is particularly good news for students. In a world where it is hard to know who to trust, more news is good news. As members of the skeptical youth of America, we no longer have to work hard to find the truth, we just have to surf the web. We no longer have to be sold the news from a group of powerful media leaders who have a vested interest in maintaining the profitability of the news. In fact, we are now capable of rivaling their power with our own, and through our active participation we can shine light upon the dark crevasse of the truth and newsworthiness. No longer will we be told only what they want us to hear.
As we embark upon the next revolution in media, we find examples in the past of whom to emulate. In the Federalist Papers, Madison, Hamilton and Jay speak of a distrust of established poles of power. Indeed, the very foundation of our federal government is based upon this principle of decentralization of authority. By spreading the capacity of individual citizens to speak their mind and be heard, democracy itself is strengthened. Our founding fathers would be proud.
Zach Stern ([email protected]) is a senior majoring in political science.
