Joho the Blog
An Entry from the Archives

The panel on the future of broadcast seemed to me to have the right religion. They talk about control returning to the group formerly known as the audience, including control over schedule as well as content.

Now there's a session on and by video bloggers. Vinvin of Bonjour America is a popular favorite with the crowd; the clips are amusing. Xolo.com shows a cllip of some vlogging they did for Mini Cooper, over which they were given complete creative control. He shows a clip from Invisible Children. Mobuzz.tv showed a Rocketboom-y clip, complete with an Amanda-ish post-ironic presenter. anil of Mobuzz doesn't think TV is dead.

The panel is cut short because one of France's presidential candidates, François Bayrou (UDF), is here. "I came because the blogosphere is very important to me, espcially as a candidate not necessarily supported by the powerful traditional media." (laughter) There is the danger, he says, that political control might be taken by industrial forces, especially the media. "The only space for completely free speech is now the Internet." He says the Dean campaign showed how powerful a force it can be. And, he says, the Internet embodies a new vision of society. It enables citizens to be not merely pasive recipients of information but to be active providers. [I don't know French politics or where he stands on issues, but he is very likable.]

Now he's joined on stage by one of the most important journalists in France (Jean-Pierre Something...sorry). Le Web 3 is being taken over by the need to break out of broadcast strictures. in other words, it's turning into a media circus, as the media say.

The Important Journalist begins what seems to be a longish question, but he's interrupted by the moderator who instead takes questions from the audience, to the applause of the audience. Ah, media hostility? What doesn't it deserve?

Q: You say we should all work together, but what's the relationship between the leaders and the lead at this point?
A: Our French crisis is deeper than any crisis in the past 50 years. It needs a new answer with some very precise reforms. The old right wing is divided and weak, as is the old left wing. I will build support among democrats among both wings. So, what kind of relationship? Control by citizens. It's very important to me that citizens can control and lead, and today we have the tools to control, the tools to lead. The Internet is one of these tools. Yesterday we didn't have the tools to control because radio and television are not tools to control and understand, not tools to teach.

Q: Why are politicians so clear about the importance of the Internet but the Internet is absent from education?
A: I was among the first to stress the importance of technology in education, in abook in 1990. But the tech may not be sophisticated enough yet. E.g., translation software isn't quite there. And I believe in the crucial imjportance of a one-to-one human relationship between teacher and student; tech will never be able to replace that mysterious relationships that makes something unclear become clear.