10 Great Events in the Rise of the New Media

Friend Jerry Agar wrote a great piece about the influence of blogs and bloggers on American politics. He came up with a great list of "transformative moments" in recent political history. Those moments range from the influence that bloggers and micro-bloggers (Twitter) had on the aftermath of the Iranian election to major elected officials being taken down. It's a fascinating list that serves as a touchstone for any researcher. Jerry Agar can be heard on WGN 720 AM in Chicago. He has worked at other superstations, such as WLS in Chicago and WABC New York. He is currently also involved with the Illinois Policy Institute. 10 Great Events in the Rise of the New Media by Jerry Agar Not so long ago in America if it wasn’t on Walter Cronkite’s news report or in the pages of the New York Times, it wasn’t news. Most of the rest of the electronic and print reporters and commentators relied on those two entities to show them what was important. A person who knew something the big news operations did not, especially if their news contrasted with the way the media chieftains saw the world, was labeled as a crank and dismissed. The cost of setting up a competing news operation was a barrier to entry only a select few could penetrate. It is so cost prohibitive to start a daily paper that former KGB General Oleg Kalugin told me that it was the only piece of the “long march through the institutions” the Russians were unable to achieve. No more. The recent explosive story exposing the depths some ACORN employees were willing to sink to in order to thwart “the man” is the latest example of how powerful a tool the Internet is to the little guy and gal. With the help of local bloggers listed below I have compiled a list of the “10 Great Events in the Rise of the New Media.” We have tried to make a list of transformative moments.The Virginia Tech shootings, the landing on the Hudson and the 7/7 Tube bombings in London were initially reported by cell phone and blog, showing the power of on-site reporting with new media, but were perhaps not seminal moments, as they would have been reported anyway, and quickly, by the mainstream media (MSM). The list is an attempt to put these events in order of importance, rather than chronology, but it is not presented as definitive. Lists like this are inevitably arguable and worthy of discussion. Please, leave comments and discuss. That is the point. SEE THE LIST at Illinois Policy Institute The following bloggers helped with the list: The Chicago News Bench, Wilmette, Publius' Forum and Thoughts of a Regular Guy Conservative Hats & Shirts Leave a Comment - Chicago News Bench RSS Feed Visit us on Twitter!