Up & Coming Weekly

THIS WEEK WITH MARGARET Media Now by MARGARET DICKSON I spent my fi rst career in radio broadcasting and eventually other wireless communications and have always been fascinated with news and media. I remember sitting on our family’s sofa reading the newspaper and wondering what on earth a city council or a county commission might be. I subscribe to two daily newspapers and far more magazine and various publications than I can actually read, even though I feel guilty when I cannot get to them all. I have satellite radio in my car and love to switch around to different channels, from Broadway hits to National Public Radio to Martha Stewart. I often owe the public library money for overdue books and books on CD which I listen to on the drive to and from Raleigh. I think it is more than fair to classify me as a media consumer. Technology, however, has changed everything and not just the form in which the content is delivered. It seems to be changing the content itself. I certainly do not want to sound like that curmudgeon Andy Rooney, because technological advancement is a good thing, even if not all of us understand or can use it all. Technological development is happening all around us all the time, and there is not a thing on this green earth that we can do about that — even if we were so inclined. Development is not really the issue. The issue is how we are using that development, and some usage is clearly off base. Sexting, for example. No one thinks adolescents using wireless technology to send racy words and photos to each other is a positive advancement. Ditto cyber bullying, Internet stalking and grown sex offenders pretending to be someone they are not. Other usages are less clear, even problematic. Blogs. They have sprung up this decade, and some have taken on a quasi-news function. The ones that operate along the lines of “I walked my dog in the rain this morning, and then I went to the offi ce” pose no problem beyond who really cares about them, but others raise signifi cant questions. I have never commented on a blog but I do read some of them. I have seen anonymous comments about other people’s marital status, sexual orientation, criminal history and other behavior. There is no way for the person in question to really refute such allegations, especially if they never know about them. This is also true for readers commenting on news stories. Some of these people has indeed spawned a species of quite deranged opinionators.’” OK, but not really. Then there is the issue of point of view. Even though there can be no such reality as total objectivity, news outlets used to make objectivity a goal and strive diligently to keep bias, particularly partisan bias, at bay in their reporting and sometimes their editorializing. Some publications continue to do so, but as broadcast and Internet news outlets proliferate, bias has actually become desirable. One of my friends told me that when the news comes on television, her husband routinely inquires, “Is this the liberal or the conservative channel? No one used to ask that question. Then there is the demise of traditional media. Venerable magazines like TIME and Newsweek are mere anorexic shadows of their former selves as cyber outlets have taken the readers and therefore the advertising. Rumors of their impending deaths and others are not overstated. give their real names, but most do not, so there is no accountability. Some of this used to be called libel, but that may be a dying concept if we never know who said it. John Drescher, executive editor of the News and Observer, one of North Carolina’s largest and most infl uential dailies, acknowledged as much in a recent column and summed up the issue this way. “Unfortunately, verifying the identities of all who leave online comments would be impossible. There are too many. “We delete inappropriate comments when they are brought to our attention. I don’t want to deploy N&O staffer to screen comments full time which is what it would take to closely monitor comments; I’d rather that staffer report news. We’re looking at some ideas that would preserve online commenting but prevent the worst abuses. As AgentPierce (an anonymous N&O commenter) wrote, ‘The Internet Most of us could not have even imagined the explosion of social media only a few years ago. Today Facebook, Twitter and others allow us to communicate personally and familiarly with family and friends and people we will never actually know, bringing on questions about how we human beings will relate and socialize with each other going forward. Do we actually have to be in each other’s company to have relationships? Do we ever need to see each other in person? What is going on in media and communication, though, is a fast-moving evolution driven by technological innovation. None of us can stop this, nor should we try, despite the unease, suspicion, even fear of the unknown that accompany any change. What we can and should do is work for positive evolution. MARGARET DICKSON, Contributing Writer COMMENTS? 484-6200 ext. 222 or editor@upandcomingweekly.com. writ-er [rahy-ter] – noun 1. a person engaged in writing books, articles, stories, etc., esp. as an occupation or profession; an author or journalist. If you see yourself in that light, Up & Coming Weekly would love you to join our creative, talented, community-oriented line-up of contributing writers. If you are interested in joining our writing team, e-mail sample articles or questions to: editor@upandcomingweekly.com For more informtion, call 910-484-6200. WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM MAY 19-25, 2010 UCW 5 THIS WEEK WITH MARGARET

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