Internet - Changing Democracy/Free Speech?

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-- Internet - Changing Democracy/Free Speech?

Posted by St_Andrew on Mar-08-2005 21:13:

Internet - Changing Democracy/Free Speech?

You think it does?

I think so, the traditional media does not have full control anymore. Forums and blogs like this one help ppl with different opionons discuss and raise issues that media wouldnt. Also now every person with some limited intneret skills can start their own internet newsource. it must have a difference on how things spread. Also it seems like if the pressure from the internet on a special issue is too big, then the traditional media will also change their opinions.

Posted by MisterOpus1 on Mar-08-2005 21:37:

Funny you should mention this. I very much agree with your assessment - information wars is alive and kicking, and the internet has only enhanced information awareness (as well as opinion, of course). I just read this story about the differences in liberals who watch the news post-9/11 vs. those liberals who tended to read newspapers more:

http://www.news.wisc.edu/10779.html

I can only speculate, but I'd contend that you can place those liberals who read news off the internet into the same category as those who read the papers. Idle speculation, of course.

But in regards to blogs, well there's quite a little brew stirring between bloggers and mainstream media journalists. I�ll leave that for another day, because one pretty damn incredible sleuthing story I wanted to bring to attention attempts to draw the distinction between conservative and liberal bloggers. Long read, but damn worth it:

http://www.prospect.org/web/page.ww...&articleId=9292

In a nutshell, the conservative bloggers have been much more organized and well connected to political groups and major GOP donors for many years, something that liberal bloggers are only starting to reveal (as well as play catch-up to). The grassroots organization of the GOP bloggers was extremely underestimated by the liberals, something I stressed as one of the primary reasons why Bush won his 2nd term. A key passage of just how powerful and well connected these GOP bloggers are can be seen here:

quote:
But success bred change. Along has come a new group of bloggers who aren't mere "citizens" at all. On the left side, some of these became deeply enmeshed with political parties, "527s," and campaign advocacy groups -- and are now a new generation of no-holds-barred partisans and major party fund-raisers, the liberal equivalent of George W. Bush's "Rangers" and "Pioneers." On the right, a number of these bloggers were already political operatives or worked at long-standing movement institutions before taking up residence online. They are, at best, the intellectual heirs of L. Brent Bozell of the Media Research Center and Reed Irvine, who founded the ultraconservative, media-hounding nonprofit organization Accuracy In Media (AIM) in 1969 as part of the first generation of post-Barry Goldwater right-wing institutions. At worst, they're the prot�g�s of conservative fund-raiser Richard Viguerie and dirty-tricks master Morton Blackwell, who has tutored conservative activists since 1965, most recently mocking John Kerry at the Republican national convention by distributing Band-Aids with purple hearts on them.

Also the targeting of the two sides by the bloggers is pretty noticeable � the conservatives go after mainstream media (MSM) figures, which puts them in direct line with their concerted attacks at the media since the days of Nixon. Liberal bloggers, however, tend to go after political hacks like Jeff Gannon/Guckert.

So overall, who exactly would you surmise is more successful in changing democracy and our media in general? I�d say the heavy hand goes to conservatives on this one, with the liberals once again trying to catch-up.