I don’t quite remember when it happened, but there was a point at which CNN became the Twitter network. All they seem to do is talk about what people are tweeting about (at least in the day time). Yahoo’s news service allows people to comment on stories and you find yourself reading a story and then quickly scrolling past a bunch of idiotic comments (Obama did it. Jews! Inside job!, etc.) to see other stories. Every other newspaper’s site is pretty much the same. There’s a reason why I don’t read letters to the editor but now I have this junk forced on me.
In 2006, Time Magazine declared “You” person of the year. Did the editors just get tired of slogging through online rants about their provided choices and simply give up? Not everyone in the world is tweeting/blogging/whatever about current events 24/7. Most of us have better things to do. I don’t think the media’s perception of public opinion is any more controlled by the people now than it was before the Internet. The same people making all the noise used to just write letters to the editor. It shouldn’t have been “YOU” as Time’s person of the year, but rather “A few nutcases with nothing better to do.”
TL;DR: No one cares what you have to say no matter how loudly they say they care about what you have to say. Feel free not to comment!
Bulk-produced journalism has always been about "go out and annoy some people, write down what they say".
They can find this out without asking, nowadays. No middleman.
> In 2006, Time Magazine declared “You” person of the year
Publicity stunt, got them mentioned all over the hip new tubes.
> No middleman.
I never thought about it that way and I think you're right. CNN used to take cameras onto the street and ask "ordinary" people about current events (more often, anyway). It was biased in its own way though: generally only people in major cities, apparently people with no jobs (because who is wandering the streets at 10AM on a Wednesday?), and people with nothing better to do and so self-important that they'll agree to be on camera. Then again, the Internet is even worse because you don't even have to show your face, climb out of your basement, or take off your tinfoil hat when you spout your nonsense to the world.