Traditional Media vs Internet Media

[SeekingTruth]

Does anyone have hope that the quality of internet media will somehow improve the traditional media outlets? I can't believe
how terrible the traditional media has become, especially in contrast to the media of the internet.

Maybe it is because the media on the internet is not an economic fear to the traditonal media.

Thoughts...?

[jimshoes]

1. I think at some point the two will merge

somewhat. The problem I see is that the main news sources will still be owned by only a few powerful corporations, thus controlling the content. So I don't really see much of an improvement unless it becomes more interactive.

[Eric J in MN]

2. The issue of Black Box Voting emerged from Democratic

Underground, through Bev Harris.

Also, blogs made an issue of Senator Strom Thurmond being praised by Trent Lott who said that if Thurmond had won (when Thurmond ran as a racial segregationist) then we wouldn't have all these problems today.

[bringerofbroccoli]

3. not an answer, but more thoughts...and a funny ad to boot

For people on the internet, the internet seems like a mainstream media outlet, but in terms of the population as a whole, it's still not at mass market level. The intellectual level of internet ads tends to be much higher than that which appeals to the general population. And the same is true for the users themselves.

Example: the democratic party in Massachusetts has a new internet ad out--slamming our governor Romney (www.massdems.org--it's hilarious!) It's the second in a series, but I can't imagine it ever getting television play. It's too slick, smart, and subtle. I don't see TV really being threatened by it.

The This land is your land one was brilliant in that it combined good ol' Americana with high level satire, but I still wonder if everyone completely got the foolishness and ironies of it.

Basically, take a look at the Dean campaign. Dean won in Dean's medium. But it didn't quite get to the mainstream, and that was a problem. Right now, that's still a problem with internet ads in general, and I think it'll take a while for it to really influence the mass television media.