p2pnet - rss feed: Of corporate fear
p2p news / p2pnet: There are 36 million blogs in the world and I’m at the We Media Global Forum in London, England, and which, IMHO, is all about growing corporate fear, almost panic. They - principally the print media - are here to trying to get a glimpse into something they don’t understand, perhaps to incorporate it in some way.
Right now, I’m literally keying in the dark in a BBC studio, together with around 300 people from around the world, some of whom are also bloggers. Others are people from the established mainscream media.
‘Citizen journalism’ is here and it’s the buzz phrase behind this interactive presentation. However, it’s unsatisfactory. The New Media is much more accurate, and it’s a major destabilising force which represents a fundamental change in communications and news and information dissemination. And, like p2p, it isn’t going away.
There are now two parallel media universes, one of which has existed for decades, and the other which is brand new. One wants to somehow gain at least partial control of the other. No prizes for which is which. And no prizes for guessing which is too late.
Thirty-six million is a big number, and it’s getting big every day.
There’s a lot of talk over whether or not the (mainstream) media are to be trusted. We already know the answer to that.
What’s barely been touched on is the fact a few individuals control it.
So far, p2p per se hasn’t even been mentioned and the arrival of ‘Citizen Journalism’ is being spun as a challenge. Aren’t challenges often perceived as things to be overcome?
Meanwhile, the fact the BBC and Reuters, two of the world’s largest and most powerful mainstream news suppliers, are hosting the event, supported by various vested-interest pundits and corporate representatives, speaks for itself.
It’s the ‘We’ Media versus ‘Them’ Media.
Anyway, this is just a reminder to explain why the usual p2pnet news-flow isn’t happening. Normal service will be resumed. Soon : )
So stay tuned.
Cheers!
Jon
May 3rd, 2006 at 12:22 pm
“Citizen journalism’ is here and it’s the buzz phrase behind this interactive presentation. However, it’s unsatisfactory. The New Media is much more accurate, and it’s a major destabilising force which represents a fundamental change in communications and news and information dissemination. And, like p2p, it isn’t going away.”
Well put. Furthermore it’s interesting how the the Digital/Internet era is changing the distribution also of music, movies and other forms of entertainment. Plainly, the old method and the middlemen that controlled the old method is fast becoming obsolete. If the old method has not yet faded away, it will, soon.
Just as in music, where some of the best music never made it to the public, so did the news and that is changing thanks to the new technologies.
We are entering a new era, but must be careful, as the obsolete, threatened and destabilized middlemen will do everything possible to prevent the new era to fulfill it’s promise.
Rafael Venegas
http://www.gvenegas.com
May 3rd, 2006 at 12:49 pm
“Thirty-six million is a big number, and it’s getting big every day.”
That is what it is about.
May 3rd, 2006 at 1:24 pm
Why are you there?
May 3rd, 2006 at 2:09 pm
The answer needs more than a few lines as a response to a comment post, and I’lll wait until I get back to Canada next week before I get to that.
For now, although (as I write this) I’m still not impressed, there’s a lot of food for thought; and, I’m in the process of trying to organize interesting and relevant material from various people which’ll appear in p2pnet over the next little while.
Cheers!
May 3rd, 2006 at 2:34 pm
????
Odd question.
Many of us have realized for a very long time that P2P is really only the tip of a very large iceberg.
First realize that RIAA/MPAA ( representing large corporate entities ) are losing no money due to P2P, and they know it.
So, Why are they screaming ??
Control.
They are losing ( lost? ) it.
Artists can be heard, known and make a living WITHOUT them.
Second ,
Understand that All of the major news organizations are owned abd controlled by the same few mega corporations.
“Six huge corporations now control the major U.S. media: Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. (FOX, HarperCollins, New York Post, Weekly Standard, TV Guide, DirecTV and 35 TV stations), General Electric (NBC, CNBC, MSNBC, Telemundo, Bravo, Universal Pictures and 28 TV stations), Time Warner (AOL, CNN, Warner Bros., Time and its 130-plus magazines), Disney (ABC, Disney Channel, ESPN, 10 TV and 72 radio stations), Viacom (CBS, MTV, Nickelodeon, Paramount Pictures, Simon & Schuster and 183 U.S. radio stations), and Bertelsmann (Random House and its more than 120 imprints worldwide, and Gruner + Jahr and its more than 110 magazines in 10 countries). ”
Those corps are beholding to money. Big Money .. thats it.
News that can REALLY hurt them never sees the light of day.
Until now.
It is really frightening for them, to not be able to keep their dirty
laundry tucked securely away under the bed. So, the bullying starts. The Apple suit ( you know, the one where apple is going after an online news service anonymous sources ) is a perfect example. They don’t WANT blogs and such to have the same “status” as they do,the same protections. To successfuly frighten the sources away from the internet is to essentially cripple a huge chunk of … the competition.
Third,
The Gov’mint.
How many of the things we have seen on the news, would NEVER have reached the news if they hadn’t started with the ultimate whistle-blower net ?? They need to close this down or monitor it, and FAST. They will use every tired old trick in the book to do so …
National security .. blah blah
Think of the Kids .. Blah Blah
Porn this pron that … blah blah
Tahr’rists .. blah blah
All smoke and mirrors.
Big money and government NEED their secrets.
The internet won’t allow them to have them.
P2P,Big news,Big Guv’mint.
3 Major fronts of the SAME BATTLE.
This is REALLY whats going on, and Jon knows this as well as
many others.
May 3rd, 2006 at 4:42 pm
Where this gets interesting (and scary) is how closely tied the major ISPs are to the major media outlets. If they are able to take control of the infrastructure of the net itself and how it handles/prioritizes data packets they can simply put the corporate/guvmnt version of reality at the top of the pile and bury what they don’t want you to know so far back in line that it will never get to you, all without any actual censorship or blocking of sites.
May 4th, 2006 at 3:48 am
I have to agree. This is one of the reason why I wrote the article “Dangerous Weapons.” Information itself is a very powerful weapon. The more people have, the stronger, and more free they can be. I would never want any information I give out to be used to hurt anyone. However, I give it out so that people can use it to protect themselves, their family, and their neighbors should the need ever arise. This need can come from foreign invasion, a manevolant dictator, an errant corporation, terrorists, or even gangs of common criminals. Wisdom, understanding, knowlege, (chabad) and love is what make a free, prosperous, and powerful people.