The People Formerly Known as the Audience

Jay Rosen, dende o seu Press Think, remexeu estas semanas os blogs norteamericanos de comunicación. Só con esta frase: The People Formerly Known as the Audience. Nota o emprego da palabra people, que aparte de ‘xente’, en inglés significa o pobo, nun sentido de soberanía. Así que O pobo antes coñecido como Audiencia.

Rosen define deste xeito o xurdimento de numerosas novas voces non pertencentes a medios e grupos de comunicación que se apoian na tecnoloxía de Internet para exercer a liberdade de expresión. O crítico achega algunhas interesantes reflexións no seu post:

Now we understand that met with ringing statements like these many media people want to cry out in the name of reason herself: If all would speak who shall be left to listen? Can you at least tell us that?

The people formerly known as the audience do not believe this problem—too many speakers!—is our problem. Now for anyone in your circle still wondering who we are, a formal definition might go like this:

The people formerly known as the audience are those who were on the receiving end of a media system that ran one way, in a broadcasting pattern, with high entry fees and a few firms competing to speak very loudly while the rest of the population listened in isolation from one another— and who today are not in a situation like that at all.