The Way Media Influences Culture

The way we communicate has changed rapidly ever since the internet became wide-spread technology. Not only has the internet made communication and public learning easier, but now there are tools at the hands of the people that can create mass change around the world. The wikileaks digitized revolution began with the release of top secret cables through an anonymized whistelblower site for journalists: wikieleaks. 

What Bradley Manning did, may have been illegal, but so many things that are illegal are also wrong in the moral sense. Should the government keep so many secrets from the public? These debates can be discussed on internet forums, through news shows on youtube or democracynow. The internet has made journalism more accessible to people around the world. People can blog about all sorts of things and upload them to the masses through the internet. Self publishing has become a possibility and can be useful if through successful networking. I feel the internet is really amazing in the way it has connected and shaped communication of individuals. People communicate more, I think, in a fundamental way. But with so many resources out there, it is also easy to get lost and become selective in what we choose to listen to or read about. Still, the information is out there and hard to ignore.

Social networking makes it easier to see what the mass of people think on an issue, ratings and hits prove what people are listening to. The revolution in Egypt may have had something to do with the revolution in Tunisia after the cables were released. This information being public is a valuable resource as long as the public keeps high moral. One issue I see with so much power in the hands of people, is that large numbers may agree with something but that doesn't always mean it is just or even constitutional. That's where the internet is almost like a media revolution.

There is no U.S. censorship and so we have free reign on what we would like to communicate...and this is good in my opinion. I envision technology in the future (which I think is in progress), a hybrid of camera and ipad, where people can submit articles with pictures and upload them instantly over 3G. I think journalism tools are the way of the future, and better technology in the hands of the masses would be a great way to continue the media revolution. But I also think it scares governments, because in large numbers people hold the power to overthrow corrupt governments and voice what truly matters to them. Overall, the internet has shaped the way we view the world. It has helped us create a voice that is heard by thousands. The politics of internet information are extremely crucial to our generation. I support non-censorship and free public communication, as it was intended...I believe the internet needs its own constitution.