How the net is transforming news: Picture a world where rumour is rife, where established media are focusing on unfair and unsubstantiated allegations, where government has to dedicate its efforts to fighting off and correcting slanders and trying to control the press.
No, I'm not talking about bloggers, or the world of the internet. This was England in 1695, when the licensing of pamphlets and newspapers came to an end and for hundreds of years afterwards a partisan press was the norm. [...]
News organisations do not own the news any more. They can validate information, analyse it, explain it, and they can help the public find what they need to know.
But they no longer control or decide what the public know. It is a major restructuring of the relationship between public and media. But it will affect politics and policy as well.
People can now address politicians directly, and politicians can reach the public without going through the media any more. Public discourse is becoming unmediated.
