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At last,
the contents of Aardvark's "million-dollar ideas" notebook
are revealed for all to see!
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What is it with the mainstream media and their constant association of
sex, crime and the Internet?
For every "good news" story about the Net, such as
this one
there seem to be dozens which go to incredible lengths to weave something
about the Internet into otherwise mundane reports.
Take
this story
from Infotech today which tells of a beneficiary who admitted fraud charges
related to $46,000 worth of phone calls made to friends and sex lines around
the world.
It seems that he's also an Internet user so somehow the writer managed to
find an excuse to mention the Net on no less than four occasions
in just nine sentences.
No, he didn't use the Net to defraud anyone. No, none of his frauds related
to obtaining online services or services over the Net.
He's just a Net user who used fraud to rack up a huge toll bill for plain
old voice calls.
What can we look forward to next?
Net Killer Confesses
A 22-year-old man, convicted today on 12 counts of first-degree murder confessed
that, in 1999 he had used the Internet for almost 10 minutes while sitting
in a Cybercafe.
It wouldn't surprise me.
No wonder so many people have such a warped perspective of the Internet --
considering it to be a dangerous place with thieves hiding around every corner
waiting to steal your credit card data and perverts just waiting to pounce
on unsuspecting kids and women, forcing an unstoppable tide of hardcore porn
to flood out of their keyboards.
Of course this is nothing new as far as many arms of the mainstream media
are concerned. Facts have rapidly become secondary to sensationalism.
Now there's nothing wrong with sensationalist news -- hell, my new
7amNews/ShockHorrorProbe
site is doing a roaring trade in publishing news in an "excitement enhanced"
format. Based on the traffic figures and the positive feedback I've been getting,
lots of people like their news with a serving of spice.
The difference is that 7amNews/ShockHorrorProbe makes no bones about the fact
that it's not another BBC or CNN. So long as you're honest about it there's
nothing at all wrong with a bit of sensationalism -- but when I see an increasing
number of publications which purport to be responsible news providers
indulging in "excitement enhanced" reporting I get worried.
What do you think -- are factions within the mainstream media still trying
to play the Net-nasties card unreasonably because they know it will attract
an audience -- just like crowds gather around a car-crash?
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Contact me if you decide to use either of these feeds and
have any problems.
As always, your feedback is welcomed.
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