The Democratization of Media: Icarus Retold
The news media is often referred to as the Fourth Estate, alongside the other three Estates (church, nobility and merchant class) described by Edmund Burke, that comprised the body politic of 18th-century France. The Estates represented the acme of the social hierarchy – the powerful, established elite who determined how everyone else should worship and be governed, who owned the means of production and commerce, and who told the masses what they should think.
Over time, the members of the Fourth Estate (at least in western civilizations) began to see a different function for themselves beyond exhortation. They started to see themselves as the fountain of knowledge, responsible for delivering objective, fair and accurate information that enables an enlightened, knowledgeable citizenry. This change in focus only served to raise the Fourth Estate even higher, setting up its members as superhuman in their ability to be perfectly unbiased and always right.
In the latter half of the 20th century, the news media solidified their position as the final arbiters of what information should recieve the attention of the public, and as the best interpreters of that information. They were able to do so because there were no means to challenge them – no easy and timely mechanism for others to call them on mistakes, no channels through which alternative interpretations of events or information could be offered. The news media began to believe their own hype that their sense of fairness and accuracy was greater than that of mere mortals.
Then came the Internet, and discussion lists and blogs and citizen journalism and we media, which illuminated the news-gathering and reporting process, uncovering all-too-human errors in judgement, interpretation and accuracy. Icarus began to fall.
The democratization of media is a retelling of that Greek myth, where a youth with man-made wings and great arrogance decided he could soar as high as the gods and flew too close to the sun, which melted the wax holding his wings together and sent him tumbling back to earth. If the news media had not reached such heights of hubris, would they seem to be falling so far and fast today?
In mythology, the story ends with Icarus’s death, but such an outcome seems unlikely for the media. For all their faults, they are still the best agents we have for collecting and disseminating the huge amounts of information that serve as our common reference points, promote social cohesiveness, and oil our democratic systems of governance. And their fall is but the introduction to a much larger story. Thousands of years ago, Icarus fell to a pre-biblical earth of passivity and ignorance, but today he would fall to a digital world – limitless, potentially borderless, filled with millions of voices, and characterized by diversity, transparency, nuance and action. It is a world where the dominance of every long-established institution, not just in media, can be challenged. It is a world where all underdogs – be they individuals, start-ups, non-profits or developing countries – can have the means to, if not to soar with gods, then at least walk among giants.
Is the democratization of media the beginning of true, cataclysmic change? In what ways can underdogs stand tall, and how are the giants reacting? Will democratization eventually happen across all social sectors equally? Or is it possible for some sectors to ignore this transformation and survive? And what other developments and issues in this topic am I missing?
TAG: wemedia
Previous Comments
Icarus hasn’t fallen yet here in Denmark. To my great dismay, most of my friends and acquaintances – well-educated, internet savvy people – have no idea what a blog is and little conception of its inherent grassroots power. The traditional media is still largely the main fountain of information and no serious “challengers” have emerged as far as I can tell. Popular blogs tend to focus on IT or travel, rather than politics and in general have made no significant impact so far on mainstream opinion. (I haven’t heard of any blog front in the Italian election for instance). Nor have blogs made an impact as business models. In DK, only one blog seems to be making any money. Many business people I speak to seem to find the idea of advertising or running PR campaigns on blogs and other social media slightly ridiculous. There is still little if any cross-pollination between social media and mainstream media.Does all this reflect a more entrenched media establishment here in Europe? A lack of grassroots user activity? A more passive electorate? Or just the usual lag of 2 to 3 years that characterizes innovation originated in the US? Europe?
There’s an interesting discussion in the most recent For Immediate Release podcast about MSM now being best an providing analysis since they can’t really break news anymore.
Likewise, I find info quantity and organization to be best provided by RSS, search, metadata, etc.