You Read It Here First

In the recent GET/rail debates, there was tremendous suppression of viewpoints other than what the union media wanted to portray as the sentiment of the people on such matters. What most people are not aware of is that private commercial media is not the “objective” voice of all the people, although they like to claim they are The People -- just as I suppose, HSTA teachers are always demanding pay increases -- “for the children.” This kind of shameless self-serving "public service announcements" are distinctive of “media” in Hawaii. The only effective counter to such lopsided manipulation of information are the alternatives -- like the blogs that will increasingly dominate the function of the old broadcast media for providing information and communication.

Broadcast media is about control, manipulation, distortion, propaganda -- not by the government, but in serving their own interests -- which is to be the power broker in controlling the flow of information (communications). Schools and universities have also been granted these similar monopolies. They claim to serve society’s interests but increasingly -- serve their own, in the name of the people. And that is the status quo of the old information and communication hierarchies -- but which blogs like these will increasingly supplant.

The strength of the blogs is that the writer is not claiming to speak for any other than himself -- as the editors of the newspapers like to imply, or the president of otherwise non-existent non-profits wish to allude. And that is the dawn of a new age in Hawaii.