Mainstream Media vs. New Media

[LionofDC]

Has the mainstream media faced it's Operation Desert Storm moment? It looks like the situation in Iran has put the major media outlets on the outside where new media tools such as Twitter is where people go to get their information. Because of the international media crackdown in Iran, the ability for the behemoth companies to cover this major news story is hindered if not completely rendered useless.

Ted Turner in the 1980s invested in satellite technology so he would be able to broadcast live from all over the world. If people remember, CNN was once called "The Chicken Noodle Network" it was a joke. It was a joke until the bombs started to fall in Baghdad in early 1991, and the only place one could find these live images was on CNN. The way we expected to get our news changed.

Fast forward to 2009 and Iran has shut out most media, but the internet is so difficult to have full control over. This brings me back to twitter a quick hit social media site where people can link to various message boards, blogs and other sites to get their information. The citizen journalist becomes the story teller and all eyes and ears focus on what the people in the street are telling us. It is a direct source to a changing time

Where the mainstream was focused on one thing, the people were somewhere else. And just like an American election was influenced by new media, the people in Iran are mobilizing themselves and informing the world using new media. In the words of the young people outside the Democratic National Convention in Chicago in 1968, "The Whole World is Watching"
We sure are watching, and this revolution is not televised, it is Twiterized.

 

[Oddball]

Funny what happens when the news becomes demand based, huh??

 

[LionofDC]

That is the fast pace rat race we live in these days I guess.

 

[Annie]

Has the mainstream media faced it's Operation Desert Storm moment? It looks like the situation in Iran has put the major media outlets on the outside where new media tools such as Twitter is where people go to get their information. Because of the international media crackdown in Iran, the ability for the behemoth companies to cover this major news story is hindered if not completely rendered useless.

Ted Turner in the 1980s invested in satellite technology so he would be able to broadcast live from all over the world. If people remember, CNN was once called "The Chicken Noodle Network" it was a joke. It was a joke until the bombs started to fall in Baghdad in early 1991, and the only place one could find these live images was on CNN. The way we expected to get our news changed.

Fast forward to 2009 and Iran has shut out most media, but the internet is so difficult to have full control over. This brings me back to twitter a quick hit social media site where people can link to various message boards, blogs and other sites to get their information. The citizen journalist becomes the story teller and all eyes and ears focus on what the people in the street are telling us. It is a direct source to a changing time

Where the mainstream was focused on one thing, the people were somewhere else. And just like an American election was influenced by new media, the people in Iran are mobilizing themselves and informing the world using new media. In the words of the young people outside the Democratic National Convention in Chicago in 1968, "The Whole World is Watching"
We sure are watching, and this revolution is not televised, it is Twiterized.

Same could be said of the administration. Seems they failed to notice just how excited the people of the US were with the revolutions in Eastern Europe, Lebanon, etc. Why would they think differently about Iran? Did they fail to note, regardless of political ideology, how nearly all Americans cheered the Iraqis with those first votes? Big mistake.

Twitter had a breakout with this, much like the blogs did with the Dan Rather story. There are niches for the alter media.

 

[LionofDC]

But this is bigger than the Dan Rather story. This is a nation which has systematically shut down the mainstream outlets of information. However Iran is a country with a modern infrastructure (at least in the urban areas). This means that the new media outlets are really the only place where you can get info. This is also a situation where hundreds of thousands of people are taking to the streets and not a newscaster reporting on a false story. I think it is far larger than niche and in time may become mainstream.

 

[Annie]

But this is bigger than the Dan Rather story. This is a nation which has systematically shut down the mainstream outlets of information. However Iran is a country with a modern infrastructure (at least in the urban areas). This means that the new media outlets are really the only place where you can get info. This is also a situation where hundreds of thousands of people are taking to the streets and not a newscaster reporting on a false story. I think it is far larger than niche and in time may become mainstream.

It thought the topic was media, not Iran. As I stated, this was Twitter's moment, others have gone before.

 

[LionofDC]

But this is bigger than the Dan Rather story. This is a nation which has systematically shut down the mainstream outlets of information. However Iran is a country with a modern infrastructure (at least in the urban areas). This means that the new media outlets are really the only place where you can get info. This is also a situation where hundreds of thousands of people are taking to the streets and not a newscaster reporting on a false story. I think it is far larger than niche and in time may become mainstream.

It thought the topic was media, not Iran. As I stated, this was Twitter's moment, others have gone before.

It is media. And you said that this was a big moment for Twitter. You also called it niche. What I was saying that it is bigger than niche. The world is getting it's information about Iran from Twitter. Iran happens to be the focus of the new media and perhaps the direction it is going. Something else may come next, but the topic is media and how it pertains to what is going on in Iran.

 

[Annie]

But this is bigger than the Dan Rather story. This is a nation which has systematically shut down the mainstream outlets of information. However Iran is a country with a modern infrastructure (at least in the urban areas). This means that the new media outlets are really the only place where you can get info. This is also a situation where hundreds of thousands of people are taking to the streets and not a newscaster reporting on a false story. I think it is far larger than niche and in time may become mainstream.

It thought the topic was media, not Iran. As I stated, this was Twitter's moment, others have gone before.

It is media. And you said that this was a big moment for Twitter. You also called it niche. What I was saying that it is bigger than niche. The world is getting it's information about Iran from Twitter. Iran happens to be the focus of the new media and perhaps the direction it is going. Something else may come next, but the topic is media and how it pertains to what is going on in Iran.

Perhaps something will replace the MSM, but hasn't happened yet. So far all the breakouts have been niches, the MSM refused or were unable to cover. Some is because of bias, some is because of realities on the ground.

There are MSM incidents that lead to breakouts, here's one. This would be different than the CBS cover-up, but related regarding bias:

BLACKFIVE: Major Mathew Schram's Memorial Day

From one of the influential bloggers, certainly one of the influential military matters bloggers:

...At the funeral, Mat's family displayed his last letters and emails that he sent. All were strong, positive messages (sooo very Schrambo-like). Here's an example of the kinds of things that Mat told his family (from the Green Bay Gazette):

Phil Schram of Hartland said his brother had visited Wisconsin over Christmas. The family knew then war was likely. Mathew Schram had been involved in the first Persian Gulf War and, later, in Somalia.

“He was anxious to get over there and get to work. He loved the military. He loved the structure. He loved serving under George W. (Bush),” Phil Schram said.​

The one part that I left out of this post is that Major Schram's convoy was followed by a car with a major weekly magazine reporter in it. Once the action began, the reporter and his driver turned and got the hell out of there. If it wasn't for Mat's charge up into the ambushers, they never would have made it out of there alive.

The weekly magazine never ran a story about my good friend, Mat.

It took a few weeks for me to decide what to do.

I had been reading Stephen Den Beste, Bill Whittle, Frank J.'s IMAO, and Misha for awhile at that point.

I started Blackfive and decided to write about Mat and other Americans like him - people that the media would never tell you about.

It's Mat Schram's blog as much as it is mine....

Of such, legacies are made.