… we are gradually coming to a boil:
But if these people don’t have the first idea of what is happening to them, we can take heart. For, while they preen and clatter, their voices are less influential than they have ever been. Not for nothing have I stopped calling their trade, the Mainstream Media (MSM). That accords them too much weight and authority – they are the minority opinion: “legacy media” is a far better description.
… more at EUR.
I also like this paragraph, “What this amounts to is that the selection monopoly of the legacy media has been broken – the chatterati now has to compete like the rest of us to get its views heard.”
So it appears that the 4th estate’s grip on disseminating or pushing their biased view of news information, or as Richard North also calls the MSM, “legacy media” and “chatterati”, has been broken by the social media of the 5th estate. Interesting! The 5th estate finally has a voice to influence government policy. Where will this ultimately go?
Us older right-wingers better learn how to tweet, or as expressed otherwise, “show up to riot”.
Thanks for that, Cjunk. I hope everyone here reads the article, and clicks the links in it –
Richard North is a highly astute and motivated man who knows what time it is, and he’s really on target here.
Kathy Shaidle has said for years that if you want to find the truth in online newspaper articles you should read them from the bottom up — meaning, start with the comments, not the top-down pronouncements of what North calls the “establishment commentators.”
North mentions the “hissy fit” thrown by former Tory minister Malcolm Rifkind, who actually said, referring to the British parliament’s vote not to bomb Syria,
That sort of crap goes beyond simple pandering, it’s a lot more desperate and un-self-aware than that: it’s subducted condescension rotting into impotent rage, a blatant, ridiculously nonsensical display of self-entitlement to manipulate those who don’t buy the would-be ruler’s narrative.
We see this same kind of entitlement, disengaged from the toothless proles, and same sort of derisive snorts, in the carefully-juried “Upper Canada” establishment commentators at National Newswatch.
They are less influential than they think. North is right that “legacy media” – especially in the sense that “legacy” refers to benefaction or endowment – is a lot more apt than “Mainstream Media.” The so-called Mainstream Media, who believe they are entitled to write the societal narrative, don’t actually represent “mainstream” views.
Again, thanks for the link, and the post.
“showing the extent to which ordinary people can use social media to bring their will to bear on MPs,
prime ministers and presidents”.
–
Never in the course of human history has the opinions and comments of voters meant so much to those that attempt to exercise their power over us.
Its easy to criticize,
so I try to control my thoughts and anger with the backspace or delete key,
this new social media can become self-empowering, addictive and even humorous.
Damn,
I’m starting to sound like Winston Churchill..
EBD is right, thank you Cjunk.
Is what happened also another expression of Kate’s sidebar?
Why this blog?
Until this moment I have been forced to listen while media and politicians alike have told me “what Canadians think”. In all that time they never once asked.
This is just the voice of an ordinary Canadian yelling back at the radio – “You don’t speak for me.”
In the situation North describes it is the British public yelling back at the opinion makers.
Excellent article.
“…The essential thing, I write, is to determine what message the unconverted will respond to. Preaching to the converted, with a message they (or some of them) want to hear, can drive away the people we need to win a referendum.
Thus, while we can rejoice in the prospect of being able to reach a wider constituency through the “new media” (a term which I prefer to “social media”), we still have to craft our message. And that is going to be the harder part of our task. ”
Indeed. I read this and consider my own comments, many of which which have been pure theater or attempts at partisan humor. If I treat this as a serious call to reform, and I probably should, then blog commenting will become a ponderous discipline. (Heavy sigh.)
I used to subscribe to two papers and read them every day. I stopped paying for them both a year ago. One still gets sent to me every day and I read it at work over lunch (mostly I like the crossword puzzles).
I’m almost 50 years old. Not many people younger than me read papers at all. News papers will be a thing of the past very soon.
minuteman
when the “out house” moved indoors, the “news paper lost most of it’s value, and if ever the bird cage is relegated to history the rest of it’s value will also be history. And the welfare rolls will be expanded by the newly unemployed
the elites used to “work” behind closed doors, but now the air wave can penetrated those closed doors and a new world is awakening
I still get the National Post, but its days in my newspaper box (and probably its very existence)are numbered. I pick up The Toronto Star every now and then – just to make sure that Toronto still deserves the future it is creating for itself. And every now and then, I’ll pick up the Montreal Gazette for a monthly dose of apologetic ex-lax.
But I will surely miss the papers when they are gone.
Great idea, Tweeting the jerks pretending to be statesman, but it must be followed up locally by taking over the politician’s base of support – the grassroots of the parties.
It’s been hilarious watching the support for Obama’s vanity strike disappear over he last week, as the Congressmen heard from their – totally – outraged subjects, and thought the better of signing on.
Its Blogs like Kate’s that have broken the legacy Media strong hold.
Shattered their stranglehold on information, lies with misdirection.
Shredded the Myths they have created in order to pied Piper the public into ideas or political direction. We owe these people a lot.
I think the case for social media is being over stated just as the MSM is. Social media, such as small dead animals, is carving a niche but most of the readers come from a particular perspective. Granted that perspective has been consciously ignored by left of center MSM which feels threatened. The influence of the conservative movement is usually that they put their money where their beliefs reside and they vote. Progressives have a harder time motivating their adherents and quite frankly they are flaky and thusly undependable.
My thought about overstatement is that my experience is that younger people are simply not paying attention all that much. My children, all in their 30’s with kids, are essentially conservative but they discount all the political input that comes their way. That means all media.
The biggest threat to this scenario is that IMO people can be caught up in the moment and influenced by immediate events. They have no basis to judge a particular situation. Syrian involvement becomes a cursory judgement based on input of the moment. In this case the MSM is having a field day let alone the politicans. When I ask about whether they watched the fake demonstrations in Egypt or fake video of Israeli atrocities in Lebanon they have no idea what I am talking about or what that has to do with Syria.
Perhaps this has always been the case whether it was Hearst newspapers or CBS News. It just seems there is far less critical thought than there used to be.
Any one who thinks that social media or blogs have replaced the MSM is delusional. The fact is that most people choose to remain willfully ignorant. As for Twitter are you serious? The politicians who use it are fools because twitter is not taken as a serious medium. When you follow the brain cramps of a hundred buddies you think of the politician as just another brain cramp issuing buddy. Since I don’t really heed my buddy why would I heed the politician! One last thing: How many keep facebook ‘friends’ who have an opposed political agenda to your own? It may not be your doing but have you ever been unfriended and blocked by a lefty loon when you point out the futility of his thinking?
This is a particularly interesting discussion when brought into comparison with an article in a legacy media article from Ottawa trying the drive by smear with comparing the Godfather movie with the PMO.
The person writing the article; is good old “they’ll just spend it on beer and popcorn”.
Wondered what happened to that crowd after their keys were taken away. Cheers;
Granted that perspective has been consciously ignored by left of center MSM which feels threatened.
–
They should be.
I still remember when they said we were just a bunch of low information,
uneducated bloggers, and blog readers,
sitting around in our pajamas trying to act like journalists.
Yeah…. Well,
take a look at all those magazines and newspapers no longer on the library’s media center shelf.
Last magazine I picked up had about 7 pages in it, 4 of those were advertisements.
‘not waiting for the Asteroid’
well joe, you may not realize it, but with the event of information being more available, progressing over the last 400 years, god has moved into a mobile home so that he can move it easier. Heaven ain’t just above the clouds no more, and we all know that now. The politicians will get an ear full more so today than yesterday and will have to “adjust their thinking and actions accordingly, we are seeing a lot of that now compared to yesterday!!
Yes and no is like push and pull or us and them.. The legacy media (love it) claims they want war, but they don’t.. So they take a false stand knowing the Twitter side door is left wide open.. This keeps everybody in their place.. Us and them, push and pull, yes and no..
Remember that journalism became one of the chosen professions of rich people a long time ago.. Doctor, lawyer, journalist, politician, big business owner is not an inaccurate statement.. They all drink from the same cup and share the common goal of maintaining the social structure that keeps them in power..
Running off with the mob.. Getting lost in the mob.. Agreeing with the mob when they take a sharp turn..
Undermines your ability to influence the mob later when the mob are not in agreement.. This is when they all collectively fall back on the news entertainment / opinion aspect of their job..
So.. Our legacy media really is most powerful when maybe is in the air.. Getting to people before they have made up their minds.. If the people have made up their minds they always choose the exact opposite
to protect their true power.. That is influence when the public isnt in agreement..
News entertainment is like a dog owner chasing a dog that broke off the leash.. Everything your disobedient dog does is “No”.. Until he gives up and comes back.. Good boy I will praise you with the treat of telling you what you want to hear..
Exactly …I totally agree.
I tried the personal blog route, but came across as too belligerent, too blunt, too incoherent.
I can’t always come up with the correct wording to get the message out, which is why I come here, Kate and most of the commenters here, have a way with words that make the point far better than I ever could.
I’ve taken to copying and pasting the best and posting them at the few newspaper comment sections I’m a member of, I try to give proper credit for the words I’ve copied and if I can’t I’ll just say posted at Smalldeadanimals, hoping that some will come here and read it for themselves.
I firmly believe we are all Brietbart now.
NME666 please put down the bong. Your anti-Christian screed is getting more than a little wearisome. Your ignorance about Christianity is beyond belief as is most of your comments on other matters. I’m sure you can find more of you kin on Huf Po if you really want the kind of low information low IQ discussion you so often try to start here.
The fact is that blogs are not a large source of political information for anyone except the political junkies be they left or right. The average (wo)man on the street remains woefully under informed and equally over opinionated to the point that they like NME666 spew their hatred laced ignorance against things they have no reason to hate except their baser instincts make them feel good when they do it. What does it say about a ‘critic’ of Christianity who thinks we Christians believe God floats around on a cloud? What’s more that kind of drivel is posted on a top ranked blog!
“…The fact is that most people choose to remain willfully ignorant.”
Amen to that, Joe.
Im not so sure twitter is empowering to the people or a threat to the ruling class.. If they say its empowering, its not.. If they say its a threat, it not.. If it was, it wouldn’t exists at all..
Whats really happening is..
The ruling class has handed the peasants the ability to tweet their intentions / political grievances straight into the upper class boardroom.. Tell them they are empowered to the point of being a threat (LOL) while they essentially have your political battle plans in THEIR hands..
In war and politics miscalculations from bad intelligence is what leads to defeat.. 10% of the population lording over the other 90% makes accurate intelligence absolutely vital.. Seeing as any potential flash points get tweeted well in advance of any political organizing, the crack of the whip (cause and effect) can feel empowering.. But its not, its just a jackboot with your name on it.. Because you asked for it, you think your empowered..
The cycle of political abuse..
It is indeed a significant moment – where public opinion, carried on the new media wave, has trumped/eclipsed the controlled narrative of the corporatist MSM. It has caused the political class to hesitate over their lust to get us into a Syrian conflict that could escalate into something much larger and deadly.
At this stage I would posit that the public “frog” has become aware of the hot water ( the government-media-war making triumvirate of corruption) however he hasn’t hopped out of the water yet – can he? – Can we roll back the authoritarian clique the globalists have made of our former free nations governments – can we do it in time before these now paranoid psycho-crats react to the new awakening by plunging us into a war or economic crisis to cover their crimes?
As the saying goes; “we aren’t out of the hot water yet” – http://www.storyleak.com/senator-warns-nuke-attack-s-carolina/
Peripherally connected to why the media are circling the bowl:-
“…the Times posted a correction to its article noting that the execution video was not from this year. In fact, it was “made in the spring of 2012,”
http://thecable.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2013/09/06/new_york_times_issues_correction_on_syrian_rebel_story?NewsWatchCanada.ca
I think some people are misreading North’s article and overstating his point, and then criticizing him for overstating his point. Insofar as he was talking about the MSM/”legacy media” his essential point – that “their voices are less influential than they have ever been” – is beyond dispute. Before the advent of the internet (and mobile devices and twitter, etc) people got their news from either television, especially network television (the nightly news on “big three” in the states) or from newspapers, in which case you were reading yesterday’s news today.
Today, more than twice as many people get their news from the internet as from newspapers, which is a seismic change. More people still get their news from television than from either internet or newspapers, but TV news’ lead over the internet is narrowing, its audience is increasingly an older one, and there are more TV news perspectives available (think Fox vs MSNBC, for example) than there were when people watched the Cronkites and the Dan Rathers to find out what was really “happening” in America.
As Ken noted in the first comment, North pointed out that “the selection monopoly of the legacy media has been broken.” That phrase – “selection monopoly”- is key. When you go to a news aggregator like Drudge, for example, or to a blog that links to selected items, there are certainly some links to a legacy media stories and opinion pieces, and to local news, but this juried selection, and the “world view” it reflects, is not that of some east-coast elite editor deciding what America does and doesn’t think or talk about, or which information they do and don’t receive.
As North put it, “people now (have) the mechanisms to discuss developments and share their opinions without relying on direct intervention from the traditional media.” Again, that’s a huge change from even twenty or thirty years ago.
The fact that some or most people choose to remain willfully ignorant hasn’t changed, but at least they have the option of getting a variety of views and data with the click of a mouse, instead of waiting for the likes of Walter Cronkite (who actually ended his broadcasts with “And that’s the way it is” to tell them what’s what.
Selection monopoly – EBD nails it !!
And yet despite their loss of ‘Selection Monopoly’ most coffee shop conversations start out with “I saw it on TV or I read it in the Paper or I heard it on the Radio. If I mention a particular blog I like to read I usually get a blank stare. Were I into that kind of thing (and I am not)I believe I would get more shared experience if I were to talk about my favourite porn site than my favourite news site. From what I gather most blogs are having a drop in readership on par with the decline in the MSM which would seem to indicate that once again it is Demand that rules the marketplace of ideas not Supply.
Social media, meh. Blogs and web sites generally have changed what -information- is available, so if you want to educate yourself on a subject such as windmills or immigration you can do it a lot cheaper and a lot faster than used to be the case.
However one need only try to find retail space for a start-up to realize that WHO we are all working for hasn’t changed. The web hasn’t really changed who’s holding the reins, but it has started to clear up the confusion surrounding our relative place in the Grand Scheme.
We work for the banks. And the government arranges things like taxes and regulations to ensure that condition stays in place as much as possible. Because they work for the banks too.
Do I think there is some cabal somewhere pulling stings and etc. to make it all happen? No. Bankers generally are clearly not smart enough to pull that off. Its an organic part of the system we live in. Nobody is in control, it all just rumbles along.
Should it change? Yes. CAN it change? I think so, but only after they start to skim off so much of our earning capacity that kids begin to starve. Because the frogs won’t jump out of the water until after the first few expire.
The more people who are motivated to get busy and learn the best place to put their boot in, the better and quicker positive change will happen. Otherwise you just get Euro-style mob rule.
Well, yeah, but don’t draw a misleading conclusion from that. The fact that there are tens or maybe hundreds of thousands of English language blogs but only one or two or three newspapers in most cities (depending on the size of the city) means it’s not surprising that people would be more familiar with, say, the Globe and Mail than with any particular blog. The fact remains, though, that in aggregate more people now get their news online than from reading newspapers. As a source of news, online sources pulled even with newspapers sometime around late 2010, and now twice as many people get their news online as from newspapers.
I don’t know where you get this information. It certainly flies in the face of every piece of polling data I’ve seen.
Ten, even five years ago there were lots of newspapers being read at 36,000 feet. Now, while walking up and down the aisle, one is hard pressed to find even one dead tree. But lap tops and hand helds are everywhere.
And yes, some would be reading legacy media web pages. But!, as I have been pointing out for ten years – it is an easy click to comparison shop now between legacy media and new media types that happen to know the real story and are not encumbered by ‘ruling class agenda. For five centuries they had a selection monopoly. NO MORE.
Not to mention papers such as the Blow and Fail are free to passengers but still no takers.
Unluckily liberal brainwashing is permanent.
NME666, why does your atheism have to touch on every issue being discussed, anywhere?
Give it a rest buddy, you’re overreaching.
EBD, you say it much better than my feeble attempt.
Shamrock, exactly.
There is another factor being missed here. Social media has created community and cohesion where it didn’t exist before. For example, the average “conservative” used to feel like a pariah, having very few of her views reflected back anywhere in the legacy media. Compare that to today; it is now common for comment threads to run into the thousands of comments, where like minded individuals either savage the notion in question; or agree with it. Sure, it’s an echo chamber, but in no way can anyone of the libertarian/conservative stripe feel isolated any longer. We are part of a loose coalition of hundreds of millions who span the globe. In the past, the legacy media would’ve successfully built the myth that we are a band of a few extremists.
Good point!
we have a lot of ways to go before the legacy Media is gone. Blogs like Kates, or Blazing Cat fur are closing in. At least now we have verifiable information. Not the propaganda spewed 24/7 by these Media mobsters.
Again In conservative circles we don’t feel alone, or outcast. We can make sure pictures are not fixed. News not twisted out of shape. People will still have their prejudices . The left just won’t have a monopoly of disseminating the “Official” narrative any more.
People can actually talk to people experiencing the events. Governments can’t hide the truth as well.
Statistics with lies get exposed by REAL individuals, working in a REAL science.
The mammals are moving in slowly but quietly.
Cjunk that sounds just a little bit creepy. As in, some pedophile is justifying his feelings because he found other pedophiles on a pedophile website.