Authoritarian Media, Democratic Media

Matt Bai’s book, The Argument [Penguin Press, 2007], is truly thought-provoking. Reading it reminded me of the recurring arguments between Internet bloggers and various “pundits”, those opinion-givers who appear in traditional media, such as David Brooks. There is, one may say, a mutual disrespect. It occurred to me that their arguments reflect a critical difference between the media they represent.

Institutional media, such as newspapers and television, are essentially controlled by corporations and governments. That means corporations and governments get to determine the subjects their media will address, the messages they will convey, and the way these subjects and messages will be distributed. For this reason, institutional media are inherently authoritarian. They may say they are ultimately controlled by the public, but that is, at best, a half-truth. If you want institutional media to alter their decisions, you pressure their advertisers or sponsors. They have to listen to their advertisers and sponsors, because their advertisers and sponsors are directly responsible for paying the bills. That’s why I would argue that they are essentially controlled by corporations and governments.

By contrast, the Internet is inherently a “democratic” medium. As long as governments and corporations can’t or don’t control Internet subjects, messages and distribution, members of the public can directly share information, opinion and art with anyone they wish. Encryption is available, if necessary. It reminds me of the “samizdat” which existed in the Soviet Union. The “samizdat” was a clandestine method of distribution that writers and artists in the Soviet Union used to “publish” work that would not be distributed by the institutional media of the Soviet state. Writers would give typed or handwritten copies of their work to friends, who would make more copies and pass them along to their friends. As I see it, the Internet is currently a high-tech “samizdat”. If you want to eliminate the Internet’s democratic nature, just give corporations or governments the means and authority to control its subjects, messages and distribution network.