Recently Bert linked to a TV Technology article - Bypassing the Broadcasters:
TV in the Social Age.
The article suggested that new forms of video communications - an extension of
the Social Media phenomenon - may compete with, even replace the traditional
forms of programming offered by the big content congloms.
One need look no further than Facebook, and the current controversy over "Fake
News" to see how the "democratization" of the tools for personal communications
are beginning to impact our culture. More than a billion people look at the
Facebook News page each day; now everyone can "publish," unfortunately with
virtually no editorial control.
One can question the "editorial control" of the mass media, but there are still
some standards, and more than enough "Crossfire" type analysis programming to
debate "alternative facts."
Recently we have seen an even more troubling trend - the use of Facebook Live
to "share" a variety of troubling events with social media "friends." The list
includes rapes, suicides, the beating of a special needs teenager, a police
shooting, and euthanasia.
This has led to serious questioning of how Facebook, YouTube and others can
police the use of their services to prevent abuse. Google is now seeing
advertisers pulling back from YouTube because their ads may be placed adjacent
to controversial videos:
http://www.foxbusiness.com/features/2017/03/22/googles-youtube-losing-major-advertisers-upset-with-videos.html
Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg is coming under increasing criticism, as Facebook
seems unable to control the abuse of its services:
http://www.npr.org/sections/alltechconsidered/2016/11/17/495827410/from-hate-speech-to-fake-news-the-content-crisis-facing-mark-zuckerberg
These are disturbing trends, as is the growing reality that every "bit" of
communications within and outside the United States is being stored on massive
NSA servers.
The "good news" is that this vast data base can be accessed AFTER a crime has
been committed to track down the offenders.
The "bad news" is that neither the U.S. Government, or Google or Facebook seem
capable of preventing the abuse while or before it happens.
And then there is the minor issue that any person can be targeted for
"surveillance" by those with access to the raw data. We now know that British
intelligence has access to the U.S. servers, and thus can surveil any U.S.
citizen.
Is this what David Sarnoff was talking about when he wrote:
“But even more appealing to the individual is the hope that television may, at
least in a measure, enable man to keep pace with his thoughts. The human being
has been created with a mind that can encompass the whole world within the
fraction of a second. Yet his physical senses lag woefully behind. With his
feet he can walk only a limited distance. With his hands he can touch only what
is within reach. His eyes can see at a limited range and his ears are useful at
a short distance only.
“When television has fulfilled its ultimate destiny, a man's sense of physical
limitation will be swept away, and his boundaries of sight and. hearing will be
the limits of the earth itself.”
Apparently there are no limits on the ability to abuse our medium.
Regards
Craig
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