While reading Brad Linder’s blog post about What Local News is Missing, and his review of Rio Pesino of Podtech.net’s interview of local people on the street, it became apparent to me that my news source is Blogging. Blogging provides me with as much coverage of local, national and even global news that I need. Blogs even provide me with information about local weather, sports, and business news. I can find all of what I need to get me the information to satisfy my query.
On the other hand, I paused to think about the woman that could not afford a computer and did not have access to the Internet. This is a big problem. She is not a small fraction of the cross section of people out there. They still rely on the free news they get. She gets her news from a newspaper, or the local news station. The problem with that scenario is she only gets one point of view. She reads the same columnist each day, gets the same view from the news anchor on her local television station. Where is the diversity in that? How is she able to interact with them by comments, and chat and IM and other forms of communication. Roosevelt promised a chicken in every pot, perhaps now is the time to have someone step up and promise a computer in every home and free Internet service to whoever wants it.Â
Tags: Brad Linder, Rio Pesino, Podtech, Blogging, Television, Newspaper, Communication
Yeah, this is why I think traditional media like newspapers, television and radio still have a major role to play in our society, and probably will for a long time to come. The barriers to access are pretty low.
In order to get your news online from blogs or news sources from around the world, you need not just a computer, but an internet connection. That’s why the One Laptop Per Child project includes a wireless mesh network component. But in order to watch broadcast television, you just need a box and perhaps some bunny ears.
So there’s an important question to answer. How can we take the richness of content available online and transmit it to mass audiences?
I think much of what makes online communication special is interactivity. And while submitting a letter to the editor at your local paper isn’t quite the same thing, traditional media can bring their audiences further into the stories by creating web sites for users to submit news and ideas for reporters to cover. The audience isn’t just the group of people who pay your salary, they’re also a rich source of information.
Yes, most people who get their news from traditonal mainstream media sources (Murdoch et al) are getting a one sided view. It is important to remember however that there is a reason those sources are mainstream; they are the news sources which have been given political / finanicial support. It will be _very_ easy for the average Joe Soap to subscribe to one or two “popular” or mainstream blogs and start getting another (possibly different) one sided view…
This problem isn’t one of dissemination but of education (and somehow giving people the desire to learn). If you teach Joe Soap that he will be better informed if he reads several blogs on one topic, by authors with various POV, he will thank you and _maybe_ do what you suggest. On the other hand our Joe Soap (accostomed as he is to getting a single POV on things) will probably just shrug and say “who cares, reading one news source has never hurt me and I really don’t have time to subscribe to several blogs…”
I agree however that the “computer in every home” initiative would be a good one! Here in Ireland there have been several political promises to that end over the last few years and there have even been some trials (Ennis – the “millenium town”) but we’re still a good way off…