by Oliver Fischer
Once upon a time an event of epic proportions shook Europe. Suddenly the people were not only part of it, they wrote about it and published their views, so other people could read about their take on what was happening. Of course, some people (journalists for example) have always published their thoughts but, suddenly, everyone was at it! And they didn’t just do it once; they even started to publish different information more and more regularly.
If you would ask different people what period of media history I’m talking about, I’m quite sure you would get a lot of different answers. Probably, most responses would refer to the rise of Web 2.0 and social media (whether it’s blogs, Facebook and Twitter), which has meant pretty much anyone has the ability to publish information about their lives and events of public interest.
Well, here are some alternative answers.
I could – for example – also be talking about the situation in Central Europe during the 17th Century in the area that is now known as Germany. With every turn of the Thirty Years’ War, several new periodical publications were founded and several popular prints were published to inform or persuade people. I could equally be discussing the increase in number of newspapers in England after the end of the license system in 1695 or during the War of the Spanish Succession 1701-1714. Or, I could be describing the foundation of almost one thousand newspapers in France during the revolution of 1789-1793.
During these (mostly aggressive and radical) events in history, more and more people started to publish their experiences, opinions, true and made-up stories, facts and propaganda on a periodical basis – because with the inventions of Gutenberg and others some decades before, the opportunity to do so was much easier. This is, in a nutshell (and not at all in every detail), how the press started its success story in Europe. Many of these new publications disappeared again soon after, but for a short period of time, the provision of information increased significantly.
Another example could be the current situation in Tunisia where, after the revolution, journalists have to learn to handle their freedom again. Not to mention the never ending discussion if video really killed the radio star.
But new media – and every medium was “new” somewhere along the way – has also lead to reactions from the government, society and from the economic system. These reactions mostly follow similar patterns, including a phase of ignorance and the attempt to subordinate the new media under old rules. In my opinion, the knowledge of these patterns and how to break them (if necessary) is quite important for PR and communications professionals.
If you just have a closer look, you can see that in some way it’s really all just a little bit of history repeating itself …
Comments