There is a much more important war going on in the world right now. A simple look at world history and control of power will tell you that those who control the news either because they are the news, or that they transmit the news, control the mind of the people.
Originally the ruler of the people, the Kings were the news makers, and their courts were the stage for their audience everyday. Later on the government of the elected took over that role, but did it with partnership with media. At some point the media stopped reporting the news, and became selective. To make matters worse they put their own spin on the news. So we had the typical right wing sources, and left wing sources.
All of this is academic to us all. But we fail to realise that this “tail wagging the dog” is now the new ruler of the world. No matter what happens the media will be able twist it. This has led to many governments to fear media so much, that they had prevented the media to enter war zones. The Israelis stopped the news reporters from getting into Gaza. In Iran the people are not able to see in TV, Radio, or Newspapers, any serious questionings against the awful theocracy in Iran.
So we have the internet becoming the new medium where new sources of news are found. No longer can a single news source have too much effect on one country. The news got out of Gaza from the internet and the Israeli blackout on news did not work. The same is true of the failure of theocrats to stop our bloggers.
We are now in a situation where it does not matter whether the TV reports what it wants. People can express themselves, just like I am able to do so here. How many Iranians really watch what Ahmadinejad says on PressTV. No one tunes in, but with selective news gathering via RSS people do not become hostage of government news agencies. It is in fact a case of the government news agencies reading the popular blogs. Blog opinion is what Obama recognised and used to defeat Bush.
There will come a moment when the TV will be less popular and internet will be more popular. In fact mobile internet will take off even more as fast devices will provide all the customized news service. This choosing by the reader will dictate the news and the digg approach will give instant thumbs up and down to the news and opinion. I can see one day people not bothering with useless TV sets and then getting more united to remove the government of theocrats by ignoring them. This open defiance will totally wipe out the strength of the theocrats to control public opinion. Big brother has lost in Iran.
