mediajunk

The capture of Saddam Hussein was a victory in the war -- against old media. That’s according to an opinion piece by Steve Outing in Poynter, an online resource for journalists. “The only way someone in the U.S. might have learned about Saddam first from a print newspaper was if their electricity was out all day yesterday, they had no social contact, and they read the news in Monday's edition,” writes Outing. “What this episode signifies to me is that Internet publishing operations of newspapers are now clearly as critical as the printing presses. On Sunday, those papers' websites were more important.” Perhaps. But most people probably fist learned of Saddam’s capture through radio or television -- as I did, in that order. I first heard about it on the RTE lunchtime radio news bulletin, then switched on Sky News to see the live press conference, where I did, admittedly feel senses of drama and participation when the pictures of Saddam (before and after beard) were revealed. I did happen to be online shortly after, however, on a bulletin board that has nothing particularly to do with news or current affairs, and it was a curious experience to see messages appear titled “Saddam Hussein” as participants learned of the capture. None of this, of course, means that new media are replacing old media. Rather, the internet is changing the function of previously-established forms of communication -- just as television changed the function of radio, movies changed the function of theatre, and so on. After all, this year’s new media are next year’s old media.