Today's "Hypermedia" Culture

Romenesko linked to this article a few days ago. The tone of the article suggests a lament for the fact that news on the internet travels quickly, and even gets picked up by more mainstream news outlets. I agree that this raises questions about reliability -- although a good journalist ought to do his best to verify before running with such stories -- but I was somewhat bothered by this part:

Media critic Jon Katz says the story -- which created a frenzy in the Olympic press corps Wednesday -- exemplifies today's ''hypermedia'' culture.

In this world, Katz says, stories appear on various electronic outlets and are then picked up by other outlets with such speed and ferocity that ''they become beyond anyone's ability to control.''

Those two paragraphs are extremely revealing. It's almost a sad reflection that journalists are no longer the gatekeepers of information and, hence, the molders of public opinion. In my view, that's an excellent development. And yes, technology has helped to spur the development. Much moreso than the development of blogs, it's THAT instantaneous spread of information that illustrates Jim Bennett's "technological reformation" in action. It's clear that some people don't view this as a good thing, but they are the ones who have largely been bypassed.

[Posted at 10:45 CST on 02/17/02] [Link]