Is Wikileaks the New Media Solution?
- Details
- Category: Jeremy Addis-Mills
- Published on Tuesday, 10 August 2010 23:34
- Written by Jaddis-Mills
Earlier this month, a website called Wikileaks burst onto the political scene with 90,000 leaked classified documents about the War in Afghanistan. As reported, these documents mainly consist of on-the-ground level reports by U.S. soldiers. They created controversy over the war because they are said to paint a very different on-the-ground picture about the war in Afghanistan than has been reported by the U.S. military or the Obama Administration. Regardless of the war in Afghanistan, the leaking of these documents has started a conversation in this county about whether the old news guard (print, TV, radio) or the new Internet-based news sources are the most appropriate information source.
We need to really contemplate where media currently is between the old guard (newspapers) and the new guard (Internet). The functioning status quo for the better part of two centuries in the U.S. has been the print media. The print media was the first great source of information for the American electorate. Over time, this very expensive and structured information stream became concentrated into fewer and fewer sources. Some have argued that the concentrated sources provided too much centralized control over the information. If an editor deemed something inappropriate for publishing, they stopped the information from being published. This print media did however provide a stable place to get your news. It was always delivered in the same format, was relevant, and had controls in place to make sure certain guidelines were followed when publishing information. Most newspapers have online websites, and sources like the Huffington Post and World New Daily.com have completely taken the editor model and placed it solely on the Internet.
As the part of the new technology explosion in the last century, radio, TV, and Internet have revolutionized the ease of delivery of information to consumers like you and me. While radio and TV have followed very similar models to that of the print media, the Internet provides a new way of delivering information. This almost purely democratic approach to delivering and collecting information has led to the advent of a new type of news source. The Internet provides a venue for information presented by anyone to anyone. Sites like Indybay and The Daily Kos allow users to self-publish their work. The result has been more available information, less structured guidelines for publishing, and is cheaper to deliver, thus allowing more people to participate in the market. Many have criticized it as being irresponsible and lacking guidelines around the information it publishes.
With these two competing models, where should we go with the news? Should we return to a print media format (editors, reporters, etc.) or should he go with this free model of information aggregation?
I don’t think either of these models will sustain themselves in the long term. While the industry is changing day to day, I think evolved models will reflect a new hybrid style. Websites are starting to adapt Web 2.0 technologies into their information streams. This is beginning to convert information gathering from a one-way street into a two-way street. No longer will you simply be forced to read or hear what someone thinks, but you can also partake in an exchange of ideas with fellow readers. This model is creating a true free market of ideas, where the best ideas win.
In conclusion, this is an exciting time! We are watching the evolution of an industry and our generation is going to be the one to adapt and evolve this new way of exchanging information. Is Wikileaks the answer? I hesitate to say yes but it is a necessary growing pain of an otherwise evolving method of how we receive and share information.
