Will Twitter deliver the final death blow to the corporate media?

[Joanne98]

First Craig's list now this. It's been fun watching the MSM try to stay relevant during this crisis. They keep explaining to their viewers that they have to get their information from twitter because the Iranian regime has thrown reporters out of the country. But what they're not explaining is how come the reporting by amateurs is so much better than theirs. This is a big problem. HA HA

Why is it that Iranians with their cell phones are producing EXCELLENT coverage? Because there's NO CORPORATE SPIN. Notice the difference? It's really refreshing. And it's just a matter of time before Americans realize that the news they've been watching for 20 years is nothing but corporate junk and right-wing government propaganda. The "filter" is getting exposed.

I'm so happy about this I feel like dancing on their graves. But it's a little premature. ONE MORE CRISIS and they're DEAD!

Then it's time to party!

:party:

In the mean time we can rip their guts apart over the corporate censoring of the health care debate.

[Ohio Joe]

1. Probably not

Besides twitter being no more reliable then our current media, I expect that it will be rare instances when media does not have access to ongoing news.

[proud2BlibKansan]

2. The internet has done them in

I feel sorry for our local paper, which once was highly respected. I was downtown the other day and drove by the building and felt a twinge of sadness. But they have also given in to the practice of just printing AP stories that most news hounds have already seen on CNN while ignoring local stories that aren't crime related. So it's hard to feel sorry for them.

[Joanne98]

8. I feel sorry for the small papers too. They may survive if they reorganize.

But they have to change their business model. Journalism has to be non-for-profit. It just doesn't work any other way. If they get rid of the investors and corporate advertisers they will rebound.

[Sheltiemama]

33. My paper focuses on local news.

We realize that readers can get national and international news just about anywhere, and local and regional news makes up the vast majority of our coverage. We're also still making a profit. Yet we still get letters to the editor complaining that we don't have enough national and international news. Go figure.

[cherokeeprogressive]

3. Nnnnnnope.

"ONE MORE CRISIS and they're DEAD!". Really? Before that happens, the corporate media will BUY twitter.

And I'm sorry, but "reporting by amateurs" is just that; reporting by amateurs.

[Joanne98]

7. Actually they may be dead before the next crisis if they keep spinning the health care debate

And they can buy twitter if they want but something else will just replace it. The Phony news era is coming to and end.

[glowing]

4. I don't think its dead. .but it needs to adapt. With technology, they cannot

hide the information as easily. They will still try for some time to come, but they won't. The problem with Twitter is that there is nothing verified. There are govt disruptors throwing info out there, and there are a lot of people just twittering away RT the same thing over and over again without any real knowledge if its real or not. But its better than a complete black out.

[Joanne98]

5. Well. The problem with their coverage of the health care debate for instance,

is that all their sponsors are against a public option. It's a huge conflict of interest and at the very least they should run disclaimers, "This news report has been paid for by the insurance companies".

As far as war zones go.... They are also spinning government policy. Which is always corporate policy. Which is why their coverage always sux.

Even worse than their stupid lifestyle stories which is hard to do.

[glowing]

15. I don't disagree with you. Most people are not stupid or tricked by the news.

Especially, younger people.. They may keep track of what's hot, but they also pay attention to the world around them. Good little multi-taskers.. not sure if too many can sit still long enough to write a cohesive book or essay.. all the mini-words coined to fit on phone screens is making spelling horrendous... but we have spell check for most instances... so that helps. I don't think they know how to look up a word in a dictionary... put spell check a must.

AND with the younger generation flocking toward Obama who happens to be a Dem, there is hope that we will continue toward a more progressive nation. Most young people don't understand why gay people don't have equal rights, seriously, MTV hosted that reality show with the girl who was bi-sexual. Real World hosts gay people on the show all the time.. I think this last time there was a transsexual in the house. Old people just need to die out a bit faster. Technology and ideas are a snap of the finger these days. McCain didn't even know how to use the computer. That's way old school.

[EFerrari]

6. I didn't notice anyone on CNN sneering about "bloggers" yesterday.

:evilgrin:

[Joanne98]

9. LOL Oh how the mighty are humbled.

[tom_paine]

10. Very premature. Corporate TV M$M will NEVER be allowed to die. The PTB would lose their hold

Over the American Subject Populace and this will not be tolerated nor permitted.

They spent so much money and so much effort turning what was once among the freest press' in the world in the Greatest Propaganda Machine in Human History, dwarfing Hitler, Stalin and Mao not just for effectiveness but for psychological subtlety.

No ham-fisted blaring of Commie trumpets. No strident Hitleresque pronouncements. Just smart marketing and PR helping the Bushies squeeze the last dregs of liberty from a nation which apparently hasn't deserved it for a long time.

[Bucky]

11. It's like asking if the occasional volcano will bring an end to solid ground

The occasional event cropping up won't overwhelm the overarching structure of media control of public perceptions.

[OneGrassRoot]

12. I'm slow this morning. What are you referring to as far as craigslist...

and the MSM?

:)

[-..__...]

14. Used to be a good way to meet "escorts" and "massage specialists".

until someone fucked it up for everyone else by luring, assaulting and murdering a couple of them.

[Duer 157099]

31. Craigslist is to prostitution as the Internet is to pornography

And what I mean is, there was a time when the net apparently was primarily a source for porn, because every time I talked about it, I got raised eyebrows as though that was what I used it for.

I have the same damned experience with Craigslist, and it infuriates me. I have used CL for YEARS for everything from finding housing to finding furniture and bikes, and selling the same. Never for prostitution.

So if you've been a regular of DU for any time, then I can only assume that the net has value to you beside porn. And the same point should be made about CL.

[-..__...]

13. Aren't Internet, wireless and communication providors...

part of the corporate media?

One way or another, they'll still have control over it and still make $$$$$$ in the process.

[glowing]

17. not Twitter yet.. But I'm sure all of them are trying to buy it big time.

Then, someone will create a new type of messaging when the corporates try to stiffle it. YouTube used to be great, and then they sold it.. Now its wayyy to controlled. I'm sure someone somewhere is thinking up the next great way to post videos that isn't controlled.

At some point the Web will change completely. What we know as internet access will look sooo different in 10yrs, McCain really wouldn't know what to do then.

[cali]

16. please point me to the excellent amateur reporting out of Iran

and no, I certainly don't consider twittering reporting.

[glowing]

18. There are a couple of people to try and follow. The post on Twitter and facebook, etc.

I'm sure other's could give you a better list of people to follow. As well, instead of poo pooing everything, why not see this as a tool to interact, network, and inform. I wouldn't call it hard journalism.. but it is a first hand accounts.. which I believe reporters look for in re-telling the story.

[Life Long Dem]

19. I thought it was exciting yesterday.

I loved seeing the confused state CNN was in when Iran's blackout turned into Twitter picture's! It was an "Oh my" what to do now fiasco!

[symbolman]

20. You are absolutely correct

And as evidenced here, most people don't get it..

The ones that Do, or are looking to the future are ON Twitter and tweeting right now..

Realtime reporting from the Scene by those involved is The News, not blowhard, blowdried corpo hairdos reading Karl Rove Faxes AT you..

The ones that don't get Twitter to me are the equivalent of parents who can't set the Time on their VCRs :)

[Joanne98]

28. Yep!

:hi:

[HughMoran]

21. Yikes, I hope not.

The disinformation on Twitter makes the MSM look like angels.

[muriel_volestrangler]

22. That's an important point

The anonymity of Twitter is more than any other form of communication. The idea that Twitter is 'free of corporate spin' is ridiculous. People have no idea who's really telling them the 'information' they see, or how to check it.

[HughMoran]

23. Yep, get ready for government controlled "Tweet Bots"

Never heard of them? You will. Tweet Bombs (DNS attack), Republican Tweetacks etc. - they're all on the way :(

[-..__...]

26. I jjust signed up out of curisoity.

Talk about being open to abuse... Twitter is a trolls dream.

No email confirmation, can change usernames, no report or alert button, can set up multiple accounts, etc.

Anyone who thinks Twitter is a a reliable source of info is delusional or has no idea what takes place on the Internet.

[symbolman]

30. Uh and Hello Kitty's

Like what, 100 years old? But you like it, got that whole antithetical symbolism there that roars with intelligence..

Maybe the smart people are cross checking, referencing with out of work journos with an itch?

Twitter, either you get it, or you don't.. It's nothing personal

I think it Sounds so Silly that smart people are repulsed, until they try it..

Make New Friends, Smart ones, you get to choose who you believe.. My mechanic is a dumbass, so I don't believe what he says, it's that simple :)

[Hannah Bell]

24. there was a period when the msm nightly news was promoting twitter.

i don't think that's because it's a threat to the owners of msm.

[Stevenmarc]

25. The Tail needs a reality check, they aren't wagging the Dog

[Party Person]

27. "god" help us if this is the future of the news

Somehow we've managed to come up with something even LAMER than the MSM.

A bunch of semi-literate twits "tweeting" the news.

[symbolman]

29. Is that you Wolfie?

#CNNfail

takes trilions squared drops of water to make an Ocean, or one can live in an aquarium and consider it Reality :)

[Sheltiemama]

32. Gee, thanks for hoping I lose my job.

Some of us on here are journalists. You won't see us in an anchor chair on the national news, and you won't see our bylines in the New York Times. We work for the daily newspapers you read every day across the nation. I'm a copy editor. There's no "corporate spin" involved in what I do. Journalists tell you what's happening in your own communities. Who do you think provides the content on your local paper's Web site? Twitter is a supplement to what we already do, but it'd be awfully hard to fill a news Web site with 140-character posts. Forget in-depth coverage.

I'm a proud member of the mainstream media who works hard every day trying to educate and inform our readership, and I'm sick of being bashed.

[BlooInBloo]

34. Hell no. Their absurdly poor business decisions did them in.