In Progress

Television has shaped the video format into a broadcast format, in which information goes out to the audience, but the audience can’t really respond directly. But this is not for lack of trying: throughout the 1970s and 80s, the growth of cable television into mainstream markets brought with it a policy movement to use video to connect local audiences more directly, providing PEG programming (public, educational, and governmental). The movement was backed by a vision held by Fred Friendly and the Ford Foundation, among others, that local TV could be a tool for greater civic engagement and more direct participation in government (CSPAN style). That theory didn’t really bear fruit, but the migration of video to the Internet is making that vision more of a reality.

I watched several of the recent debates on MySpace live with no technical glitches. I participated in their poll questions pegged to the debate content in real time as well, although I didn’t think the questions were particularly interesting. I’ve watched how the Internet has actually led to more opportunities for voices to be heard, dissent and acclaim alike. But I’ve also seen how blogs can become a tool for what I would call irresponsible journalists, who enjoy the authority of presenting information but don’t want to follow the standards of journalism that have been developed for professionals.

Overall, I think that the new forum for presenting video on the Internet has largely led to democratization of the form. The proliferation of consumer-level equipment has lowered the bar to making content, and the interactivity has made it possible for viewers to talk directly to each other and to the content makers. But there are new issues that arise with the less edited free-for-all that is the Internet that are changing the landscape of journalism and not necessarily for the better. Citizen journalism is great, but I would argue that we also need an educational component of media literacy for audiences. We would do well to educate audiences and provide a set of metrics that can help them better understand the underlying assumptions and holes in what they’re seeing.

Posted on November 2nd, 2008 by DeepthiW
Filed under: Media, Politics, School, Uncategorized