News Consumption Goes Direct

It is so hard to go back 20 years ^[1] and imagine a world in which sources go direct the way they do now.

But that’s exactly what has happened.

I have no television. No standard network or fancy cable news, only internet. Yet somehow, without even trying, a graphic video showing a bloody and stunned Gaddafi being dragged onto the hood of an SUV while rebels surround him cheering – almost unable to contain themselves – floats across my news stream and I’m instantly transported into the middle of the action.

Without the framing, production and sometimes forced context provided by a typical news organization, my brain is instead pushed to analyze the scene on my own.

The absolute joy and frantic actions of the rebels. The complete confusion and loss of confidence in the face of Gaddafi. The fearful quickness with how the scene played out. The imaginary scenario in which I think through what I would have done if faced with something similar.

There are other things to think about in all this, mainly the fact that I probably wasn’t as disturbed at the sight as I should have been, but right now I think I’m mostly amazed with the ease of news. Not only have the sources gone direct, but so has our consumption.

^{[1] I can’t imagine that I was thinking too much about news before the first Gulf War, so that’s my frame of reference, but insert any time frame here really.}