Over the past two years “blogosphere” has changed the way news is being reported. It is a blogger who outed the false documents which were used by Dan Rather in his ill-fated 60 Minutes report regarding George Bush’s National Guard record. Just last week, the Washington Post printed an article regarding an RIAA lawsuit, which said that it was illegal to rip a CD to a computer. As news spread through the blogosphere, an outcry arose. It is interesting to note that the outcry arose from the blogosphere, and not as a direct result of the article (which was, in the end, erroneous).
People are predicting that traditional media sources will soon change roles from news creators to news filters, with the people providing the news. For example, after the Madrid and London mass transit bombings, it was the people which provided the best news. The BBC received so much footage from people that they opened up the lines and became filters rather than content creators.
We are already seeing, in the US, the diminishing power of traditional newspapers and traditional news media. It is interesting to see that the newspaper reporters we talked to weren’t too worried about this happening soon in India. They claimed that it was because the paper was so engrained into Indian culture. However, the paper was also engrained into US culture, and that is slowly falling to the wayside.
From what I can see, I believe that the “steroids” which Friedman talks about in Flattener 10 haven’t enveloped India enough to cause traditional news media issues. Eventually (much sooner than most people expect), I believe people will have more control over the news they receive here in India through direct means, rather than just indirect means. This will happen as the steroids proliferate deeper into rural areas, and people feel empowered enough to use them.
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