World rallies for kidnapped Nigerian girls

[Islandman]

(CNN) -- Protesters took the streets again Sunday, adding to the international pressure on Nigeria do more to rescue more than 200 schoolgirls abducted by militants.
Crowds from Los Angeles to London rallied on Saturday, carrying posters reading #BringBackOurGirls -- a campaign that began on Twitter after the mass abduction of the girls by the Islamist militant group Boko Haram last month. In Washington, protesters gathered at the Lincoln Memorial to denounce what they described as a poor response by the Nigerian government to rescue the girls.

http://www.cnn.com/2014/05/04/world/...html?hpt=wo_c1

[Islandman]

Historian, I know you are not a big fan of social media and amateur news reporters/journalists but this is an example of a story that would probably have been ignored by the Western press were it not for these new forms of media.

Why? Because they are African.

[Historian]

I Actually Agree With You

Historian, I know you are not a big fan of social media and amateur news reporters/journalists but this is an example of a story that would probably have been ignored by the Western press were it not for these new forms of media.

Why? Because they are African.

I fully agree with you on this, boss.

The uprising in Iran a couple of years ago, when Twitter provided the main link and thus enabled the world to follow developments, really made me realize the importance of the “new media.” There are many other examples, including the Facebook campaign not so long ago that focused on Joseph Kony.

I have gradually come to realize that social media and also amateur reporters can make a tremendous difference in our lives today. In fact, mainstream media houses are more and more relying on non-professional reporters (for example, CNN’s “iReport”).

I wish Marshall McLuhan had lived to see just how real his predictions about global village turned out to be.

[Islandman]

OK boss, good to see that you are seeing some value in the new media.

Unfortunately, one side effect of lowering the barrier of entry to any industry is that just about anybody looking to "eat a food" can go into production. We see it in music, film , journalism to name a few.

Taken as a whole though, I do believe that the benefits outweigh the costs most of the time, once the consumer adjusts to a new way of figuring out how to separate good value from garbage.