The children of the revolution
In the nineteen hundreds understanding the world was relatively easy, news was delivered daily in printed format or available on television in easy to understand snippets, usually delivered by friendly, smiling folk who were careful speak clearly and without an accent. What was also great was that deciding what news was important was taken care of by learned editors who ensured that nothing frivolous or unduly depressing were accidentally thrust upon an unsuspecting public. Staying “up to date” was straightforward; read the papers, watch some news. Conversations between people in the know were based around what they had both seen in the news and opinions given to them on these subjects by the learned editors. It was a boring time. Old folk loved it.
The 21st century is for the younger generations. TV news is dead, resulting in its descent to reporting on the divorces of celebrities as “breaking news” and the evolution of weather reports from public information services to its current manifestation of dangling pretty ladies in front of ever more impressive digital screens and will eventually lead to all out pornographic obscenities with a mild weather based undercurrent. Print news is too slow for a generation of people who demand to know now, not tomorrow morning. Indeed even the way these old mediums present the news does not suit the new generation of news consumers; friendly, slowly spoken reports that barely scratch the surface of an actual story are not enough for the masses of young people who can access in depth information on any topic at the click of a button. Perhaps more important that any concern over style and focus is the fact that in the 21st century everything is interactive and people want their news to be the same.
The architects of the Jasmine revolution were young people who had had enough of the old men clinging to power through violence and intimidation and used social media to develop a groundswell of support and plan protests that would lead to the peaceful removal of dictators. Only in Libya, where Colonel Gaddafi resorted to attacking his own people (in the mantra that if he can’t rule them then no-one can) did the revolution turn violent. Live updates from the protests were streamed worldwide via YouTube and Twitter, giving millions insight into the reasons for the revolution, the objectives of its protagonists and the chance to voice their own support. For many young people there was nothing that traditional news reports could offer that they had not heard, read, seen or discussed already.
The strength of the 21st century news experience is that people can be their own editors, reading through conflicting opinions, watching videos from every angle and getting facts from different sources and forming their opinions without the kindly leading hand of learned editors. The challenge of being your own editor is that you must actively seek news, or risk being left behind, at least until tomorrow morning’s easy to understand highlights package and sports report. I therefore implore us all to actively seek knowledge and edit it ourselves lest we be left behind with the Gaddafi regime, who have so lost touch they recently issued a press release (probably via fax machine) stating they were not concerned by defections because no man is irreplaceable (except presumably Gaddafi himself, who seems pretty essential to their operations).