Is the internet stronger than the Media Law?
According to columnist Hélio Schwartsman, the world produces a daily volume of information equivalent to 450 libraries of Congress in the United States; the problem, therefore, is more the excess than the lack of information. He also states that the power of traditional media is already declining and says that it is unlikely that governments can promote a more effective democratization than that already imposed by the internet.
247 - While the PT (Workers' Party) defends a Media Law, isn't the democratization of media already happening on the internet, without governments needing to do anything? This thesis is defended by journalist Hélio Schwartsman, a columnist for Folha de S.Paulo, who also points to the declining power of traditional media. Read below:
Democratization of the media - Hélio Schwartsman
SÃO PAULO - It has become the norm among center-left groups in power in Latin America to advocate for the democratization of the media. The degrees of commitment vary. In places where populism is more explicit and the economy is not doing well, the dispute between the government and the traditional media can take on dramatic proportions, as is the case in Argentina. In Brazil, however, the discussion arises in spasms and tends to be led by figures further removed from the center of power.
I am also a staunch defender of democratization, defined as the expansion of information sources available to citizens. I fear, however, that this is a banner of the past. In fact, one must have missed the train of history not to realize that we are in the midst of a technological revolution, whose most visible effect has been to exponentially increase the amount of information available to society and diversify its origins.
Indeed, IBM estimates that the world is currently producing 2,5 quintillion (2,5 x 10^18) bytes of data every day, which is equivalent to 450 US Libraries of Congress (the largest in the world) every 24 hours. This dwarfs even the Gutenberg revolution, which took 50 years to increase the total number of books in circulation in Europe from thousands to 20 million, and is at the origin of the Reformation and the Industrial Revolution.
This is an irreversible process, and currently, experts are more concerned with the excess of information than with its scarcity.
I'm not saying that large media conglomerates have lost their ability to influence populations, but their power tends to be declining, and it's unlikely that governments can promote a more effective democratization than that already imposed by the internet.
The strategy of the leaders makes more sense if we interpret "democratize" as a euphemism for "control".