As many are beginning to appreciate, the age of 'Push' broadcasting is fading fast. We are no longer passive consumers, hypnotised by the miracle of moving pictures on a screen. We no longer look behind the TV to see who's there. We want to produce as well as consume.
Hence the latest digital success story. Geriatric1927. A seventy something online phenomenon. In his first week 'on air', his account at YouTube has generated hundreds of thousands of hits in its first week. Enough on a standalone blog to generate thousands of pounds of income.
But more importantly, he represents the point where the technology of broadcasting becomes available to practically everyone. The implications are obvious.
Not only are people of his generation offered an entirely new role in society, but anyone or any organisation can distribute and promote itself or its productions anywhere in the world. The role of the commissioning editor will be radically altered, and scheduling will be a thing of the past. Our days of being mere consumers, tethered to rigid schedules and the vagiaries of the production industry, will largely disappear.
The implications both for society and mainstream broadcasters are stupendous. It is at least as significant as the transition from Steam travel to the internal combustion engine. It is "The fastest generation of technological change since fire." as Alan McCulloch of Saatchi & Saatchi once described it. Richard Eyre called it a 'communicopia'. And now it's here. Everyone is a TV channel now.
8/28/2006
8/09/2006
Thrown Shoes. Whitehall. 5/8/06. 2.50 - 3.10pm Lebanon Solidarity
Lebanon Solidarity
Israeli flag laid on shoes, quickly removed.
8/08/2006
Jews Against Zionism contact with Muslim Opponents of The Seige of Lebanon.. Parliament Sq. 5/8/06. 5pm. Lebanon Solidarity
Established in 1938, Neturei Karta (AKA Orthodox Jews Against Zionism) oppose the establishment the state of Israel. Claiming it is against the Talmud.
Their presence on the march, and the welcome they received, gave the lie, again, to the divisive theories of ethnic incompatibility currently being peddled by those seeking to make people hate and mistrust each other.
It being Sabat, they had walked from Stamford Hill, and were a little late.
'Anti-Zionist Jews come out of the shadows
First Post
Cenotaph Shoes. Whitehall. 5/8/06 - 5.15pm Lebanon Solidarity
Many shoes were thrown and laid in protest in Whitehall. By 6pm they had all been swept away into bins.
Lebanon Solidarity
Jeremy Hardy - Token Celebrity. Lebanon Solidarity
At the end of the day, many found themselves in need of a pint, and among them was the talented and sincere Jeremy Hardy, who agreed to be photographed for this blog in this well-known Whitehall watering hole.
7/27/2006
The Moral Surrender. 9/11 Attacks Excused By Israel.
Only those without morals can fail to see the obscenity of the slaughter in Lebanon.
Taking place beyond their range, it is not justified by the Hezbollah missile attacks. It is a conspicuous act of savagery which Israel will, sadly, come to regret. Opinion in Lebanon already seems to be swinging towards Hezbollah, rather than against, as hoped for in Jerusalem. Presumably, it is only the bombings which are preventing substantial desertions from the Lebanese army to Hezbollah.
But even worse, by being a massacre, it endangers all of us by its surrender of any moral position. By the morals on display, the 9/11 bombers were totally justified. And so at a stroke, the West's whole moral case in 'The War Against Terror' has been undermined by Israel.
And so terrorists the world over will feel more justified in their actions. And naturally, there will be more of them.
Israel, and the rest of the western world, will have to learn that winning this war will take more than bombs, and that killing your enemies' hatred is much more difficult than killing his body.
Taking place beyond their range, it is not justified by the Hezbollah missile attacks. It is a conspicuous act of savagery which Israel will, sadly, come to regret. Opinion in Lebanon already seems to be swinging towards Hezbollah, rather than against, as hoped for in Jerusalem. Presumably, it is only the bombings which are preventing substantial desertions from the Lebanese army to Hezbollah.
But even worse, by being a massacre, it endangers all of us by its surrender of any moral position. By the morals on display, the 9/11 bombers were totally justified. And so at a stroke, the West's whole moral case in 'The War Against Terror' has been undermined by Israel.
And so terrorists the world over will feel more justified in their actions. And naturally, there will be more of them.
Israel, and the rest of the western world, will have to learn that winning this war will take more than bombs, and that killing your enemies' hatred is much more difficult than killing his body.
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