Tuesday, June 16, 2009

“Is Iran the end of the MSM?” No.

FP’s Passport asks “Is Iran the end of the MSM?” and answers in the negative:

The Atlantic’s Conor Friedersdorf has an interesting thought piece on how media coverage of the events in Iran may be a harbinger of a digital future to come:

Are we approaching a point where political information is processed so fast that an event happens, information elites weigh in to shape the discourse surrounding it, the conventional wisdom is communicated to Congress, and elected leaders formulate reactions based on public opinion… all before most of even the formerly plugged in members of the public ever learn what on earth is going on, or have a chance to form an opinion? Is anyone who works at a company that blocks their Facebook feed going to be meaningfully disadvantaged in the political process? Egalitarian concerns aside, are the information elites going to set a course, ossify as they always do in their opinions, and influence the nation’s course too hastily? Are we on course for a kind of political singularity?

In short, no.

I wholeheartedly agree. Earlier I posted about the philosophical underpinnings of Twitter and other online communication/networking platforms:

Twitter is the latest instance in this ongoing process of pouring the content of hundreds of millions of minds onto a global cyber-canvass, the commixture becoming something new and unpredictable. This outfolding is at an early stage, and eventually the various ways in which it is manifested – solipsistic profiles on Facebook and MySpace, instantaneous mass communication on Twitter, mind-melding on blogs, self-broadcasting on YouTube, virtual identities in Second Life – will merge. At that point, we’ll be wearing our brains on the outside, metaphorically.

Still, online communication tools won’t obviate the need for traditional media outlets, no matter that those outlets are going through a painful metamorphosis. I want my news from both sources, working in tandem. If anything, the Iran story is an example of the complex interrelationship that keeps the media on their toes and mobilizes the online community - together they’re providing a more multi-dimensional picture of events than ever before.

Topics: media, iran, twitter, msm