The Last Mile of the New Media

In networking, the problem of getting your data out to your end users is often referred to as the "last mile" problem.  It's difficult enough to build a trunk line through a major populated area, but since the network is of no use to anyone without users, you have to branch out all the wires to that "last mile" to the consumer's house.

I was raving about how much I hated the MSM the other day, and how useless I thought they were becoming, when a Hillaryite hopped on my thread to snootily inform me that most of our source material on the Blogz came from that very same MSM.  So it got me thinking.  We (the Blogosphere) have a huge network for presenting analysis and reverse-filtering to our readers.  But what about that last mile?  What's it take to cut the MSM out of the loop entirely?

I've spent most of today with a major headache, getting over a cold, and as I've tried to move through the day I've gotten up and down, reading this and that posting, and realizing how much I really, really hate the traditional media.  The image of Chris Matthews and Tim Russert arrogantly trying to drive the conversation of this election down their predetermined, McCain-humping path, has got me mad as hell.  And with that trollish comment in my mind, it wasn't hard to put together an argument that the traditional media or MSM, has utterly given up their job of reaching that last mile, to begin with.

Consider: in order to have "the scoop," in the past, a reporter would need to be first on the scene, and first to report his text to the paper.  Visualize those old 1940's movies where some dramatic event would happen, and all the reporters rush to the phone booths to phone in their stories.  I have one visual of a bank of phone booths actually falling over.

Well, how relevant is that today?  In the past in order to keep a news organization going you had to have enough money to send that reporter to the scene of the event, and make sure there was a structure in place at the home office to receive his report and put it on the page for the next day.  

In the New Media, exemplified in my argument by DKos, what do we have?  Hundreds of thousands of individuals, scattered all over the country (and the world).  The source of our reading material is diaries and analysis written up by these people.  There is no hierarchy.  The readers are the writers.  Much of the time we write material based from news articles we've read.  Or other blog posts we've read.  But on a number of occasions, the diary has been posted directly out of the diarists' personal experience.  Case in point are the Obama rally diaries.  With photos provided from the diarist.

So we've already begun the process.  The mainstream media is of course terrible about covering Obama's campaign because if they were actually putting this stuff up on the TV the other two candidates would just wilt away into the darkness.  There is simply no match for the enthusiasm of the gigantic crowds who are turning up to see Obama speak.  But we're getting the news nonetheless, which we wouldn't be in previous eras.

So what about the rest of it?  The last mile for bloggers?  I know that in many cases bloggers are now getting actual press credentials allowing them access that "ordinary folk" don't have.  What else?  Contributors (like myself) doing more than meta analysis?  Going to the scene of local events 1 night a week to see what's really up?

Think about what gets printed in your local paper.  The comics.  The obits.  The puff pieces.  The drivel.  What of that is really worth reading that is news, and how can it be reached?  How can the last mile between the Traditional Media and the blogs be reached.

The MSM/TradMed is dead.  I've said so myself. The 2008 election is accelerating this process, an opinion shared by other commenters.  So to get to the end of this, to get to where Chris Matthews, Chris Wallace, Tim Russert, and Contessa Brewer and Katie Couric are all out begging for handouts on the streets, what other things have to happen?

For video, we have Youtube.  For pictures, we have a zillion photo-hosting services.  For text, we have the blogs.  Source material is barely provided by the MSM as it stands.  That last mile is all we need.

•  Last Mile Tips (nt)

  by slippytoad on Sun May 04, 2008 at 11:47:49 AM PDT

  •  Here's my tip: try to figure out why people still

    use the MSM. For instance, we have an absolutely horrid newspaper here in Hagerstown. But they sell well. I tried and tried to figure out why they are read. One reason: they cover the local minor league baseball team. So what am I doing--a better job than they of covering the minor league baseball games.

    by The Bagof Health and Politics on Sun May 04, 2008 at 12:39:00 PM PDT

•  Nicely thought-provoking analysis

  I would say that the the MSM gets a lot of its "source" through blogs now -- it's just that they're not reporting it this way.  In other words, stealing content and source.  Just my take...

  by Beth on Sun May 04, 2008 at 11:57:32 AM PDT

•  2008 Election = Funeral for the MSM

  Despite your headache you focused on a major aspect of what is dynamic about history being made in front of our eyes and with every keystroke.

  The fact that one can use the term Mainstream Media reflects a reality that has been in place and growing since the early fifties: central control over information means a "King on the Hill" game that has over time, become less subtle.

  This year, the special interests are so desperate that they have largely abandoned all pretense at having something that in Journalism 101 class is called intellectual integrity.  

  Thus, even the general public is waking up to what is going on, and has been more and more over the past fifteen or so years - roughly the same time frame in which interactive communication through the internet has been developing.  

  I think this election year, the mainstream media will really over reach and blow their advantage, accelerating the trend towards more decentralized information sharing out in the public.  

  They are essentially volunteering to become the Pony Express or stagecoach service, and about as relevant.

  This year, the networking action of the web, in which people share moral support, practical suggestions, use database organizing tools,
  and develop new techniques, will advance a good bit.

  It may be that it is really too early to hold a funeral for the MSM, but they have lost their monopoly on public information and will never regain it.  That has to be as great an historic milestone for Freedom as Gutenburg's moveable type innovation.

  by Stuart Heady on Sun May 04, 2008 at 12:03:05 PM PDT

•  I've shared your day.

  I really want to sit out on the patio in the sun and read a good book. And, not think about this mess.
  It doesn't work. I start fuming. I think of Obama out there trying to reach people. I think about Hillary threatening to bomb Iran. I think about the subtle racism that pours out of the press with their fixation on Wright.  
  I've been online since 1992. I've watched it grow. And, that is a good thing.

  To get to the last mile we have to step over the dried up bones of the old media. And, we need to hasten that process.

  It is time we called them out on the national and local level.
  Many voices make a roar.

  by redtex on Sun May 04, 2008 at 12:08:28 PM PDT

•  Re: "Mainstream Media"

  It strikes me that the term itself it not representative of what It's describing.  I know the connotation is that it's what the "mainstream" of America is consuming, though I'm not even sure we can make that assumption anymore.  More dangerous is the inference that it represents "mainstream" anything, as it so clearly doesn't.  The term "Corporate Media" to me, gives both a designation that to much of America, now rings as truth, and also provides a coherent framework for explaining why they appear so out of touch with what people would like to hear.  

  The never-ending "head-to-head" primary, Reverend Wright's obsessive coverage, and a link to complicity in war (a la Shock Doctrine) can all be easily contained and explained in the very American language of the bottom-line.  News dissenimation should be done by people who care about such things, not those with a executive board to please.

  by CeciNestPasLeBlog on Sun May 04, 2008 at 12:14:27 PM PDT

  •  I like your new tag

    "Corporate Media".  I believe that's exactly what they are and should be referred to as.  The designation makes a point very directly about what media has become and using it can only emphasize this to people.   I hope you don't mind if I borrow your term as I haven't liked Mainstream media as I don't think they've represented anything mainstream for a very long time now.

    by psdunc on Sun May 04, 2008 at 12:23:39 PM PDT

    •  Borrow away

      Spread forth and multiply. Memes are meant for the taking.

      by CeciNestPasLeBlog on Sun May 04, 2008 at 12:53:01 PM PDT

      •  Diary is now tagged

        With that term.

        by slippytoad on Sun May 04, 2008 at 12:54:39 PM PDT

  •  "Mainstream Media" started as a right-wing term

    used to discredit the press.  They're trying to destroy and corrupt the press, while we're trying to make a better press.  We should not reinforce right-wing frames.

    "MSM" vs. "Traditional Media"
    by kos
    Wed Aug 15, 2007

    by Simplify on Sun May 04, 2008 at 12:31:16 PM PDT

•  Just what Howard Rheingold says

  in his book Smart Mobs THE.NEXT.SOCIAL.REVOLUTION

  Instant access to all kinds of technology will transform the culture and the way we communicate with each other. It's a great read and it's happening right before our eyes. I cannot wait to hear the death knell for the MSM.

  by bookwoman on Sun May 04, 2008 at 12:17:53 PM PDT

•  8 - 9 years ago I was very excited about

  the indymedia.org movement.  

  Over the last 10 years a lot of trial and error to produce a new kind of news media that is non heirarchcal.

  For video, we have Youtube.  For pictures, we have a zillion photo-hosting services.  For text, we have the blogs.  Source material is barely provided by the MSM as it stands.  That last mile is all we need.

  The structrual barriers are almost all gone.  What we lack is the model.  We have a lot of proof of concept, but we need that synthisis that shows us how to put it all together.  I think we are close though.

  Then, we need an all out war to discredit and destroy corporate media.

  by audiored on Sun May 04, 2008 at 12:35:18 PM PDT

•  The Grid will change everything

  http://www.foxnews.com/...

  As people have instantaneous access to movies, applications, news you will see a shift that renders cable and network tv obsolete (yeah, I know Fox says it'll render the Internet obsolete, but they're idiots . The Internet is a concept not a specific technology...)

  When people get home from work they'll turn on The Net and surf to their favorite program (i.e., video). No need for Tivo. No need for cable subscriptions.

  We'll all be on The Grid and the playing field will even out. What we'll need, though, is talking heads, cause there's no guarantee we'll have any more actual readers...we'll have to consider a whole new audience of viewers.

  by eltee on Sun May 04, 2008 at 01:23:46 PM PDT

•  Syndication

  Perhaps current Archaic Media reports could self-syndicate to provide original content to bloggers, who could then validate, filter and analyze the content for presentation to news consumers.

  by edg on Sun May 04, 2008 at 01:31:00 PM PDT

•  Isn't Real News Network

  doing what you are talking about?  

  by psdunc on Sun May 04, 2008 at 01:34:46 PM PDT

  •  That's excellent

    Hadn't encountered them before.  They're now bookmarked.

    And now I've got to figure out how I can donate to them as well as the Obama campaign.

    by slippytoad on Sun May 04, 2008 at 01:44:42 PM PDT

•  Very interesting diary

  The control of information has always been a means to control people. The dynamic has shifted and is shifting, these are interesting times. Some newsworthy stories lend themselves better to personal experience diaries, the rally diaries you cite for example. How best to bring those others the last mile is an interesting problem with many facets to consider. Trust, integrity, 'no spin'. I find it hard to imagine how the current news delivery system (traditional media) could change itself while serving the needs of it's advertisers for revenue. Essentially I see most 'personalities' on 'news' shows as the sales force rather than people that I trust to deliver factual information.

  by oceanrain on Sun May 04, 2008 at 02:17:45 PM PDT