Social Media , Creativity , Media Aug 30, 2010
Lines of Communication: Are we getting less from more?
In the summer of 1968, Chicago police battled protesters outside the Democratic National Convention while I, still an impressionable youngster, watched in fascination – not only the violence on the streets but also at the clash of opinions broadcast on TV. The ABC network had enlisted conservative writer William F. Buckley Jr. and liberal author Gore Vidal as commentators. At times they appeared to be on the verge of fisticuffs themselves but, in the end, limited their battles to verbal jousting.
I wonder if their strongly held and wildly divergent opinions could exist in the same space today what with media fragmenting into more channels broadcasting to more narrowly defined audiences.
Coming soon to Canadian TV is a cable news channel from Quebecor Media that’s already been dubbed “Fox News North” while in the U.S., the original Fox is being outflanked by The Right Network, starring Kelsey Grammer. All in response to a perceived liberal bias of so-called “mainstream” media.
But what about the Internet? Isn’t it providing us more information and a greater range of opinion than ever before?
Well not exactly, according to Harvard academic Ethan Zuckerman. "We think we're getting a broad view of the world, because it's possible that our television, newspapers and internet could be giving us a vastly wider picture than was available for our parents or grandparents," he told the BBC. "When we look at what's actually happening, our world-view might actually be narrowing."
Maybe it was Buckley vs. Vidal that started it, or because I was in a media program, but as a student I read the anti-establishment magazine, Ramparts, as well as the establishment newspaper, The Globe and Mail. I offer this example only to illustrate that it was possible (and to my mind beneficial) to consider diametrically opposing views at a time when media options were far fewer than they are now.
Today, social networking is a major influence on how we think and act and there’s much to recommend about these new forms of communication. However, we invite friends to join us on Facebook, not enemies, and we’re unlikely to follow tweets from people we dislike or disagree with. There is comfort in being part of a group but groupthink can create a false sense of security.
The 19th century British philosopher John Stuart Mill believed that people benefited from listening to moral views, for example, that were different than their own. He believed it forced a person to fully understand why they held their particular view and thereby be able to explain and defend it.
Challenging assumptions.
As advertisers it’s a valuable exercise, either to confirm our ideas or to investigate other possibilities. And understanding diverse opinions is essential if we want to participate in the conversations of increasingly fragmented audiences.
Ethan Zuckerman: Listening to global voices
Lyle TurnerWriter/Producer
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