Printing presses in the past only published books and pamphlets that would make them money or fame, refusing to publish anything that could get them in "trouble" with the mainstream, the government, etc.
Even today, when buying music, you have to check to make sure you aren't (or are) buying the "edited" version of the song-- thanks to overly controlling mothers across the country.
Blogs have freed us from the restraints of money- and power- hungry printers and media broadcasters. Blogger can be our Times, and Youtube can be our CNN.
Rettberg calls out a few different types of journalistic-style blogging.
Personal blogs of news-worthy events, such as:
Residents of New Orleans during Katrina relief
Residents of Baghdad during U.S. invasion
VA Tech student during the shootings
Gatekeeper blogs
Gatekeeper blogs are blogs that watch the news media and control the information that is disseminated across their sites. That is, they expose and further investigate ideas that the news brings up. (See "Rathergate") They also promote discussion about the events and encourage the discussions to continue through "points" or "karma" awarded to on-topic comments.
Through blogs, the mainstream media, and the ability to share findings with your "network" (through Facebook, Stumbleupon, Digg, etc.) we have created a symbiotic network of media through the web.
After the lecture in class today, I realized the merit of this chapter. I don't want to add it to the actual blog post because this is more of an EDIT or ADDENDUM of some sort.
ReplyDeleteThe mainstream media is lucky enough to have the money to gather the information we need-- especially in other countries. Without the power and the money (sadly) that these conglomerates hold, we couldn't get all the information that we crave as human beings.
To some, the allure of blogs-- especially with filter/community blogs that (someone) were brought up in class today, is the illusion of the elimination of "corrupt" mass media practices. A majority of blogs use the mass media as sources.
However, a majority of mass media uses blogs (among other sites) as sources. As pointed out in class today, news networks asked twitter to keep their site online during the Iran elections, and sites like wikileaks get their information from other sources.
As time progresses, the symbiosis noted before has the potential to completely redefine the idea of "media" as something that is simultaneously organic/personal and dynamic/cultural.