The Internet is commonly defined by its lack of regulation, by way of limitless boundaries. The fast-flowing pace of media and news swamps the Internet, mostly unregulated and in high concentration. This has raised issues for legislators and censorship task forces, who argue the importance of the freedom of expression and address questions of intellectual property rights.
It’s almost impossible to regulate a person’s opinion. We are free to express what we want, when we want to, provided that it does not infringe upon the universal rules of law, and codes of conduct set out globally the UN declaration of Human Rights Springs to mind! However the Internet is a different kettle of fish. Whilst there have been notable instances of media regulation on the Internet, it is still rare on a large scale- with the consensus being, a perceived reluctance to constrain the Internets freewheeling nature.
‘The enterprise of new media has developed beyond its chosen purpose’. With websites such as twitter, Facebook, Bebo, MySpace (to name a few) providing more than they had perhaps initially anticipated. These sites have inadvertently created the citizen journalist. With the requirement of an email address and some form of name, citizen journalists are free to roam and publish information as they please on the endless networks of the Internet. This particular form of new media has provided the large news corporations with an entirely new branch of reporting, occurring on a larger and quicker scale. And of course, with the Internet so widely available, media through social networking is limitless and HARD to regulate.
In 2009, twitter became an important tool for both journalists and political protesters, particularly in Iran. Throughout the highly documented Iranian Presidential election, ordinary (and angry) Iranians expressed feelings about the result through the Twitter site. It couldn’t have been a more perfect situation for the news corporations, of which, many had been banned from Iran throughout the election and its aftermath. Iranians were tweeting, blogging, facebooking not only their feelings, but also what was going on inside the country. By using social networking sites, new media was officially born, opening a window for the rest of the world to see, and of course, they did this unregulated.
The CEO of Twitter was once quoted as saying , ”What we have to do is deliver to people the best and freshest most relevant information possible. We think of Twitter as it’s not a social network, but it’s an information network. It tells people what they care about as it is happening in the world”. There were of course many instances where Twitter was used to convey an important message to the world, however the Iranian Election demonstrated the ultimate value social networking, new media and the Internet holds.
So with the positive uses of new media, is their any need for governance or regulation?
Perhaps with that in mind the following should be considered:
Media Pluralism in the 21st Century
The importance of Impartiality and balance….or unimportance of it
”My opinion is important” Internet governance fascist??
Cyberlaw- ”i’m not being censored by someone who holds the complete opposite views as me”
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