Andrew Steele
America 20xy
June 15, 2010
Because cameras are more widely available to the average consumer and because of the popularity of user fed sites like YouTube, (along with the obvious propaganda of the mainstream media creating a thirsty market for raw information) citizen journalists have become abundant in America over the past decade. Often videos of confrontations with important figures go viral on the net through the efforts of countless bloggers who faithfully spread the information to the farthest corners of the web.
This phenomenon has weakened the controlled media’s power to influence and shape reality, as well as the power of politicians to control their exposure through that media.
When powerful people lose control, they really lose control.
Congressman Bob Etheridge of North Carolina assaulted a student on a public street the other day simply for asking him, “What do you think of Obama’s agenda?” Since then, many writers of “progressive” blogs have been eager to defend Etheridge by speculating that the students involved were GOP plants. Regardless of whether or not that’s true, (no proof of that yet), the majority of citizen journalists aren’t. The Congressman’s reaction is a perfect illustration of just how on edge the new media has put members of the establishment, who are desperate to reel in the information revolution and put the plebes back in their places. CONTINUE READING
