3-29-06

New Media Part 4:  I Am Spartacus
So now we come down to the crux of the situation.  What exactly is the "New Media"?  Who are these great warriors of the "Free Press" willing to take down the corporate giants of the Liberal-biased Main Stream Media (or MSM, because if you can turn a meme into an anagram it must be true)?  In a nutshell, the "New Media" boil down to Talk Radio, internet blogs and independent news outlets, and, um...anyone who says they're part of the New Media and decries the excesses of the MSM.
          The thing is, it's mostly a matter of self-definition.  If the internet boom of the 90's gave us anything it was the freedom to redefine ourselves on our own terms.  People with eating disorders aren't severe depressives with minimal self-esteem and a skewed view of consumption and self-image; they're "Annies" or "BBWs", adherents to a persecuted lifestyle minority.  You can redefine almost anything as almost anything else, and, as I mentioned in the first part of this series, with over 140 million Americans (not to mention something like 80 million Europeans and over 100 million Africans, Asians, South Americans and Australians), you're sure to find a sizable group of people to support you.  There are sites for everything, and they all treat the behaviors they champion as normal behaviors.  One site tells you all the best places to go to stalk celebrities in New York, there are sites that tell victims of self-mutilation the best ways to cut themselves without being discovered.  And of course there's porn.
Because We Say It Is
So, of course, the spearhead of the New Media is Talk Radio.  Of course, there's nothing new about Talk Radio.  I'm over 40, and I can't remember a time when the talk radio format wasn't on the air.  Of course, when I was younger, Talk radio was limited to Sports discussions and drunken 3am wackadoos bitching about the President (it didn't matter, at the time, which President, or what he did or supported).
          Then, in 1992 or so, the Rush Limbaugh show was syndicated nationally.  Suddenly Talk Radio wasn't just for Mets fans, alcoholics, and insomniacs.  Rush was on in the middle of the day.  And, as long as he was discussing actual politics and political tactics, he knew his stuff.  Plus, when he opened his phone lines, he got calls from erudite, lucid people, from both sides of the aisle.  Early on, his detractors referred to hid fans as ditto-heads, and accused them (and all conservatives) of merely parroting Rush.  But the smart ones, even if they dismissed him publicly, began to listen to him.  Whole political campaigns became about knowing what Rush had said and either declaiming it or supporting it (in some way that the campaigner wouldn't owe royalties to Limbaugh).
          Soon, Talk Radio began to take over the AM dial.  Stations that had been "serious news" stations, that had long-winded expository shows about the value of the Hawaiian goose and dedicated two hours a day to Paul Harvey's clipped and informative (but always somehow amused-sounding) delivery were reducing their news time to the federal requirements and replacing information with on-air discussion.  People became known simply for speaking their minds.
          The MSM took notice.  They did everything they could to decry this new development.  Not, as many believe, because it violated some pact with liberal whatsis and thingies.  They had a vested interest in undermining Talk radio because, if people are listening to Rush, they aren't watching Dan Rather.  And advertisers (and their money) go where the people are.  Unfortunately, this negative interest from the "gods of broadcasting" validated the claims of persecution from the "New Media".
Angry Badgers in a Sack
Let's try an experiment.  Get a big, sturdy sack.  Now, fill it up with badgers and tie it off.  Okay, throw the bag into the back of an old pickup truck and go galumphing offroad somewhere.  Stop the truck and go get the bag.  Open the top just enough to stick your arm in.  Congratulations, you've just experienced what it's like to be the subject of a Blogosphere cycle.  Except that the badgers are much less likely to question your sexual orientation and your parents' marital status.
          But what is the Blogosphere?  That's an interesting question, and one so complex and difficult that it makes me tired just thinking about it.  I'll let you know next time what I come up with.  I'm going to go lie down now.