Media in the middle

We’re in the middle of a transformation in our culture where we’re sharing media. People are getting used to it, they see that bad things aren’t happening. You don’t have to have perfect control, you can trust the marketplace and trust the community.

For all of its importance, trust itself is an inherently insecure thing. It implies a deep faith and certainty but is often based, at best, on inconclusive evidence. It is a contradiction that is critical to understand as media becomes a product of greater collaboration in online communities.

Speaking of trust ... what about the The Great Chinese Censorship Hoax

The Chinese media is laughing and jeering bi-lingually at how the Western media took the bait when two prominent Chinese bloggers staged a censorship hoax, making it look like they had been shut down.

Reuters covered the 'shutdown' and noted that 'Wang and Yuan could not be immediately reached for comment' - I wonder if they had answered their e-mails or the phone they would have continued the charade? It certainly means that the claim that no one called to check might be a bit shallow as a BBC reporter noted.

A sad day for the opiniosphere and the media organisations?

No - reality and we better shake it off - kind of reminds me of hype around cold fusion and the damage it did to all scientists, whether involved or not. Here's just a couple of point - indications that something is happening.

• French daily newspaper the Alsace, describes an interesting experiment of an interaction between the newspaper and readers, and between blog and print.
• In February, 41 private digital media companies announced $413.2 million in venture capital financing. Count your fingers - ONE month.
• Slowly, very very slowly, even big media wants to play. CBS is going to sell some of it’s TV shows directly to viewers via the web.

This is ONLY the beginning.