Categories: Articles

We The Media

Everything you say (and do) is being recorded and will be judged in the court of public opinion.

Put aside how you feel both politically and philosophically about the Occupy Wall Street movement and take a few minutes to watch this video (please note: there is some language, so this may not be safe for work)…

Did you notice:

Everyone is recording everything – in images, audio and video.
The cameras are everywhere.
The cameras are not just filming the protest, they are filming the police too.
The reporter who winds up getting physical with the police officer has his credentials out in plain sight.
The reporter then leverages the social media channels to tell his story.

Who is right? Who is wrong?

This isn’t a question of ethics, legalities or scruples. What you are seeing is not only the power of New Media and Social Media, but the power of the platform. This recording was posted just a few moments after it occurred. How long do you think it will be until we’re able to stream this (in HD and without buffering issues) live and in real time? We’re close. Almost there. Personally, all I could think about when seeing this video for the first time was George Orwell‘s infamous book, 1984 (as a side note: do you notice how militarized the law enforcement officers look?). The only difference between this and 1984 is that the public has the cameras… we’re the ones recording everything.

We the people? How about we the media.

Mitch Joel

Mitch Joel lives at the intersection of technology, business transformation and consumer culture. He is the Executive Director of Next Era Institute, a strategic intelligence platform helping leaders understand the forces reshaping business, technology, culture and society. The Institute identifies which shifts matter, explores their wider significance and translates them into strategic direction and momentum. Mitch is also a globally recognized keynote speaker. He has delivered thousands of presentations across both B2B and B2C industries to organizations including Google, Walmart, LEGO, Shopify, Microsoft, Procter & Gamble and Unilever. Strategy Magazine has called him “one of North America’s leading visionaries.” Mitch built his career by working directly inside the waves of change that reshaped modern business. He founded and built a digital marketing agency that worked with some of the world’s largest brands and was later acquired by WPP, where he served as President of a firm operating in 25 countries with almost 3,000 employees. Mitch is the bestselling author of Six Pixels of Separation and CTRL ALT Delete, and the host of Thinking With Mitch Joel, one of the longest-running business podcasts in the world. His writing and commentary appear in outlets including Harvard Business Review, Fast Company and Inc. Magazine. He is a member of Dr. Marshall Goldsmith’s 100 Coaches and was named to the Thinkers50 Radar. Mitch also hosts Groove – The No Treble Podcast, documenting the oral history of electric bass players. Mitch is also Co-Founder of ThinkersOne, a platform that enables companies to bring personalized thought leadership from world-class experts into meetings, events and off-sites in focused 15-minute bursts.