The FCC, Weblogs, and Inequality
Clay Shirky,
Jun 03, 2003
In the wake of media deregulation in the United States (or, more accurately, a new regulation regime allowing greater ownership) the author looks at the lessons offered by a completely unregulated medium, weblogs. He argues, "For people arguing about an ideal media landscape, the tradeoffs are clear: Diverse. Free. Equal. Pick two." This is because of the previously observed "Power Law" which shows that some weblogs will dominate readership while most languish in obscurity. Fair enough. But let us keep in mind that the distribution of popularity in the weblog world is rigged in favour of those who operate weblog software. The weblog world isn't the tabula rasa suggested by the author. The power law may have occurred in the weblog world no matter what, but the preferences created by blogging software made it inevitable.
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