Power Play

I find this topic horribly ironic because I just did an analysis of the constant give and take of power in another venue. Jeff Jarvis did a beautiful job of pointing out the morphing that is going on within the press, and the media. *simply* If we've learned nothing else from this class thus far, it's that times are changing. We think differently, we seek information differently, and we EXPECT information to be delivered differently. Jarvis' main point is that power is shifting. In times past, the press held all the power, but in today's day and age, there is a constant flow and give/take of information. There is an ever so subtle shift in the balance of power from the journalist to the reader. The reader can just as quickly turn around and spit the exact information out, but differently. The witnesses on scene become journalists in and of their own right. There are no longer clearly defined limits, or boundaries. The model that Jarvis proposes is extremely loosely defined, and a system of constantly flowing information.

I was immediately struck with the perspective of news being a "power play". However, I read the article again, just to make sure my first impression was correct, and the second reading drove it home. I didn't find anything confusing, per se, but his model did strike me as unusual. Taking the power out of the hands it had been in for so long, and freely distributing it the way Jarvis did struck me as a bit out of place. Upon further examination, his thoughts began to merge with my own.