When social networks like Facebook and Twitter started coming out, I took a look, and after much consideration decided that they were just a bloody waste of time.
Now, watching the stuff happening in Iran after their elections, I am coming to realize that we are actually watching nothing less than a revolution - the News Revolution.
I started realizing this during Operation Cast Lead in Gaza, when my primary news source was not CNN, not the Jerusalem Post, and not Radio Kol Yisrael. It was Jameel @ The Muqata. Yes, a blog web site, which carried the most up to date news about how things were going for our boys in Gaza, where rockets were falling - and they had the scoop hours before the news appeared on any mainstream news source.
And now on Twitter, you can watch everything happening within Iran, as told by the Iranians, and uncensored by the politicos at CNN and BBC who prefer detente over confrontation, who prefer stability over freedom. All the stuff that you'll never see on CNN. And more - it is also serving as a mouthpiece for those people who otherwise could not express themselves - both for Iranians to sound off about how they long for freedom, and for outsiders to encourage them to pursue it.
This is the News Revolution, where the people are taking back the narrative from the journalists. No longer can the mainstream media black out all dissenting opinions and subtly mold popular consensus; no longer can they control what people are exposed to. The truth will out, and we will all be much better off for it!
1 comment:
It certainly has that potential, and is on the way to being a reality. But there's a long way to go before we can totally bypass the big media.
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