Transmedia transnational video journalism | Paul Levinson | TEDxSaintPetersUniversity
-
0:15 - 0:18Paul Levinson: So, how are you doing?
(Audience) Good! -
0:18 - 0:19PL: That was a a nice introduction.
-
0:19 - 0:24So I'm trying to decide should I talk
about science fiction, time travel, -
0:24 - 0:26the First Amendment,
-
0:26 - 0:29but I'll stick
to what I'm supposed to talk about -
0:29 - 0:34which is I think one
of the most revolutionary developments -
0:34 - 0:37in our history as a species.
-
0:37 - 0:40What I'm talking about is a development
-
0:40 - 0:44which for the first time
has put the power -
0:44 - 0:48not only to communicate to one another
which we've always had -
0:48 - 0:53but the power to communicate
to the world at large -
0:53 - 0:56in everyone's hands
-
0:56 - 0:59and not only through the written word
-
0:59 - 1:05but through speech
and audiovisual content. -
1:06 - 1:11That is a major path-breaking development
-
1:11 - 1:15and let me just start by giving you
a couple of examples, -
1:15 - 1:19and then we'll trace
a little bit of the history of that -
1:19 - 1:21to put it into a proper context.
-
1:21 - 1:24I'm sure most of you know
-
1:24 - 1:31that Barack Obama won
his reelection campaign a few months ago, -
1:31 - 1:34and I'm sure most of you also know,
if you follow the news at all, -
1:34 - 1:40that one of the key factors
in Obama's victory -
1:40 - 1:43was Mitt Romney's statement
-
1:44 - 1:48that 47% the American population
-
1:48 - 1:54were not of interest to him,
his supporters, and the Republican Party. -
1:54 - 1:58In a very contemptuous way, Romney said
-
1:58 - 2:0347% of Americans are only
interested in a handout; -
2:03 - 2:07we're never going
to get their vote anyway. -
2:07 - 2:11That was actually a statement
-
2:11 - 2:16that a political candidate
might well have made -
2:16 - 2:20to his or her rich supporters,
-
2:20 - 2:24and in fact, that is indeed
the physical premise -
2:24 - 2:27where Romney made that statement.
-
2:27 - 2:31But as I'm sure most of you also know,
-
2:31 - 2:36it was not just those people
at that fundraising event -
2:36 - 2:41who heard and saw
Romney make that statement. -
2:41 - 2:47In fact, eventually, most Americans
saw that statement. -
2:47 - 2:49Why was that?
-
2:49 - 2:54A bartender had brought in
a little video camera -
2:54 - 2:58not much bigger at all
than a typical smartphone, -
2:58 - 3:03had put it on the bar,
had pointed it to Romney, -
3:03 - 3:09had turned on the recording
and just let the video recording run -
3:09 - 3:12while Romney made that statement.
-
3:12 - 3:16We could talk about
the ethics of doing that. -
3:16 - 3:18Is it ethical to record someone
-
3:18 - 3:21when they don't know
they're being recorded? -
3:21 - 3:24I think those are
very interesting issues there; -
3:24 - 3:25I think by and large,
-
3:25 - 3:28it's not particularly the height of ethics
-
3:28 - 3:32to record someone when they don't know
they're being recorded, -
3:32 - 3:33but as in most things in life,
-
3:33 - 3:36sometimes we have a collision
-
3:36 - 3:41of ethical problems and ethical concerns.
-
3:41 - 3:46And so, against that questionable practice
-
3:46 - 3:49of recording someone
without his or her knowledge, -
3:49 - 3:53you have the other important point
-
3:53 - 3:57that don't the American people
deserve to know -
3:58 - 4:01who they are voting for?
-
4:01 - 4:04I think of those two issues
-
4:04 - 4:07the greater good resides with
-
4:07 - 4:12the American people knowing
a little bit more about the candidates. -
4:13 - 4:15As a matter of fact,
-
4:15 - 4:20what happened was this very hour
of Romney making those remarks -
4:20 - 4:25was not only recorded
on this little video camera -
4:25 - 4:31it was put up on YouTube, and it was
eventually picked up by the mass media. -
4:32 - 4:35And so, although the actual recording
took place in May, -
4:35 - 4:40it wasn't until September
that everyone began talking about it. -
4:40 - 4:45One of the words
in my talk is transmedia. -
4:45 - 4:48And it's important to recognize
-
4:48 - 4:52that social media, in and of themselves,
-
4:52 - 4:58don't have the power all the time
to get information out to the world. -
4:59 - 5:03In fact, what you often need
are the traditional mass media -
5:03 - 5:07to come into the system
-
5:07 - 5:11and amplify the message
-
5:11 - 5:15that the social medium has created
-
5:15 - 5:18and put up to the world
in the first place. -
5:18 - 5:22So that's a key component
of this revolution. -
5:22 - 5:27It's transmedia,
meaning it rarely operates -
5:27 - 5:33just from one medium
going to other media -
5:33 - 5:39or just one medium going
to other inconsequential media; -
5:39 - 5:41rather, it operates
-
5:41 - 5:45by going from one medium
to other media -
5:45 - 5:50and then hitting the jackpot
of the more consequential mass media -
5:50 - 5:55which still have an enormous
amount of power in our society. -
5:55 - 6:02Often, we hear people talking
about television versus the Internet, -
6:02 - 6:06cable television versus YouTube,
-
6:06 - 6:10the newspaper versus Twitter
-
6:10 - 6:11as a source of news.
-
6:11 - 6:14In fact that's not, I think,
-
6:14 - 6:19the most accurate way to look
at this current media environment, -
6:19 - 6:25because what you find on Twitter
are links to news reporting -
6:25 - 6:29in the New York Times, in newspapers,
on television, and so forth. -
6:29 - 6:33Conversely what you find
in the New York Times, -
6:33 - 6:37and on conventional,
traditional news broadcasts -
6:37 - 6:43are clips from YouTube
and various events -
6:43 - 6:47that otherwise you would not see
covered in the mass media. -
6:48 - 6:54So to use a fancy word,
this is a synergistic -
6:54 - 6:56- or another phrase -
-
6:56 - 6:59mutually catalytic development
-
6:59 - 7:05in which the social media contribute,
and the mass media contribute. -
7:06 - 7:10There's a transnational
aspect to this as well, -
7:10 - 7:14and obviously, whoever is elected
President of the United States -
7:14 - 7:16is by definition --
-
7:16 - 7:21that event by definition is something
that has international import. -
7:21 - 7:26So in fact Romney's 47% remark
-
7:26 - 7:30was not only seen by Americans
who voted in the election, -
7:30 - 7:34but was seen by people
all over the world. -
7:35 - 7:38Marshall McLuhan, back in 1962,
-
7:38 - 7:42observed that new electronic media
-
7:42 - 7:47were turning the world
into a global village, -
7:47 - 7:51and I'm sure many of you have
heard that term "global village," -
7:51 - 7:55but back in 1962,
-
7:55 - 7:59the environment was really
-
7:59 - 8:03neither global nor a village,
-
8:03 - 8:06because back in 1962
-
8:06 - 8:10and what got McLuhan to make
that point in the first place, -
8:10 - 8:15what you had were national audiences
watching television programs -
8:15 - 8:19there was no international
communication really. -
8:19 - 8:25The first international satellite Telstar
was launched in that period of time, -
8:25 - 8:31but it didn't really have any programming
that was conveying to the world. -
8:31 - 8:36So it was not yet global
nor was it a village, -
8:36 - 8:39because in a normal village
-
8:39 - 8:43the citizens of that village
can talk to one another -
8:43 - 8:46- just like you can talk to each other -
-
8:46 - 8:50and can move a conversation along,
-
8:50 - 8:55can question information
not just receive information. -
8:56 - 8:58On traditional television,
-
8:58 - 9:03there is a one-way communication
-
9:03 - 9:06in which we are receivers of information,
-
9:06 - 9:11but we have no way to really question
or even comment upon the information. -
9:11 - 9:16All that changes
when we get into social media. -
9:16 - 9:20So if you look at videos on YouTube,
-
9:20 - 9:24some of them have thousands of comments,
-
9:24 - 9:28and I always think, when I see that,
-
9:29 - 9:33that, "Ah, here is democracy at work,"
-
9:33 - 9:37because here in these comments,
you see people -
9:37 - 9:41not only receiving news
but sending back information, -
9:41 - 9:43sending back commentary.
-
9:44 - 9:48So the global village that McLuhan
talked about in 1962 -
9:48 - 9:54was really a metaphor back then
or a sign pointing to the future. -
9:55 - 10:00I often like to say that McLuhan
was not writing about his time, -
10:00 - 10:02he was writing about our time:
-
10:03 - 10:08not because he was clairvoyant,
but because he understood -
10:08 - 10:12with such depth how human beings
wanted to communicate -
10:12 - 10:16that he realized we would be
moving in a direction -
10:16 - 10:19in which we did have a village.
-
10:20 - 10:24And so, Romney's remarks were indeed
-
10:24 - 10:28truly seen by a global audience.
-
10:29 - 10:33Let me just give you another example,
a very different example. -
10:34 - 10:37Occupy Wall Street --
-
10:37 - 10:42which was a a global movement
-
10:42 - 10:46that coincided to some extent
with the Arab Spring -
10:46 - 10:50and let me tell you
about one person in particular -
10:50 - 10:53who in my view did one of the best jobs
-
10:53 - 10:59reporting what was happening
in Occupy Wall Street. -
10:59 - 11:02We're talking about
something that happened -
11:02 - 11:04a year or two ago.
-
11:05 - 11:08I was teaching a class
-
11:08 - 11:14at Fordham University in the Fall of 2011
-
11:14 - 11:17when Occupy Wall Street was going
strong in New York City, -
11:17 - 11:19around the country, around the world
-
11:19 - 11:24I went back to my office,
and I looked at my email. -
11:24 - 11:30And right before I was about to sign off
and shut down my computer and drive home, -
11:30 - 11:33I looked one more time at my Twitter.
-
11:34 - 11:38I saw her just a little tweet which said
-
11:38 - 11:43Tim Pool giving live coverage
-
11:43 - 11:49to an Occupy Wall Street protest
that was going on at Baruch College. -
11:49 - 11:54Baruch College, if you don't know, is part
of the City University of New York System -
11:54 - 11:59down in the a East Twenties in Manhattan.
-
11:59 - 12:06I clicked on the link on YouTube
and pretty quickly I was brought to a page -
12:06 - 12:12where there was live streaming coverage,
literally, of that demonstration. -
12:13 - 12:16And I was able to see that in real time.
-
12:17 - 12:21It would be hours before
any of the mass media picked that up. -
12:22 - 12:24And, as was the case with YouTube,
-
12:24 - 12:28there were people who were commenting
on what they were seeing: -
12:28 - 12:33literally, the police moving in, pushing
demonstrators out of the way, -
12:33 - 12:39in my view, illegally, because it was
violating their First Amendment rights. -
12:39 - 12:42But all that was actually shown
-
12:42 - 12:46in real time through Tim Pool's reporting.
-
12:46 - 12:52And it was seen internationally, literally
in real time, through his reporting. -
12:53 - 12:56And by the way Tim Pool
continued to do that, -
12:56 - 13:02he had a New Year's Eve live feed
-
13:02 - 13:05of another series
of Occupy Wall Street events. -
13:05 - 13:09It shows you
what a great party person I am. -
13:10 - 13:12It's amazing my wife puts up with me,
-
13:12 - 13:17because that's what I was doing at least
for an hour or two on New Year's Eve, -
13:17 - 13:20looking at Tim Pool's live coverage.
-
13:20 - 13:22But that's extremely significant,
-
13:22 - 13:26and by the way,
it has legal import as well, -
13:26 - 13:31because the New York City police
arrested many people -
13:31 - 13:36that they said
were violating this or that law. -
13:37 - 13:40In most cases, on no evidence,
-
13:40 - 13:43and in one case, I was very happy to see,
-
13:43 - 13:47the case was thrown out of court,
-
13:47 - 13:51the person who had been arrested
by the NYPD was found not guilty -
13:52 - 13:59and the reason was Tim Pool
had been there with his little phone -
13:59 - 14:00-- he just uses a smartphone
-
14:00 - 14:04hooked up to an internet connection
to report what happened -
14:04 - 14:08at another event in which someone
had been arrested -
14:08 - 14:13for breaking through a police line
which in fact never happened. -
14:13 - 14:19So this has profound
legal consequences as well. -
14:19 - 14:23But let me put
some of this in historical context, -
14:23 - 14:26and end with a little trip
through history, -
14:26 - 14:30just so you have an idea of why I think
-
14:30 - 14:34this is such a path-breaking development
-
14:34 - 14:36in our communication history.
-
14:36 - 14:41Once upon a time, a long long time ago,
-
14:41 - 14:45we're talking about thousands
and thousands and thousands of years ago, -
14:45 - 14:49the only way
we communicated was by talking, -
14:49 - 14:52and in that environment
as limited as it was, -
14:52 - 14:55because you couldn't communicate
beyond your physical surroundings, -
14:55 - 14:59anybody could talk,
and anyone could respond. -
14:59 - 15:04And then, we moved
into a written environment, -
15:04 - 15:09in which the information
was saved, preserved -
15:09 - 15:14in scrolls, in parchment,
papyrus, and eventually paper; -
15:14 - 15:18and it was the same thing:
anyone could write, anyone could read, -
15:18 - 15:21but very limited distribution.
-
15:22 - 15:25In the Renaissance, in the 1450s,
-
15:25 - 15:28Gutenberg, as we all know,
introduced the printing press. -
15:28 - 15:31Suddenly, millions and millions
of people could read -
15:31 - 15:34what anyone had written.
-
15:34 - 15:37But now, a problem was introduced:
-
15:37 - 15:43who was to decide who would do
that dissemination? -
15:44 - 15:47An editor or a publisher had to decide.
-
15:47 - 15:51And so, what was set up
was this profound asymmetry -
15:51 - 15:57of who knows how many ideas,
how many written works were out there, -
15:57 - 15:59could have been out there?
-
15:59 - 16:04But only a small fraction of them
ever made it into print. -
16:05 - 16:07In the 20th century,
-
16:07 - 16:11we had the introduction
of electronic broadcasting media: -
16:11 - 16:14this improved greatly the dissemination.
-
16:14 - 16:18Millions of people could hear the news,
see the news instantly. -
16:18 - 16:20Extraordinary!
-
16:20 - 16:25But once again, who decided
what would be in that news? -
16:25 - 16:29The answer was again: a producer,
-
16:29 - 16:34a television production crew, an editor.
-
16:34 - 16:38And who knows how many stories
were left uncovered? -
16:39 - 16:45It was not until the Internet
that this began to change. -
16:45 - 16:50There actually was one little important
development before the Internet: -
16:50 - 16:52the rise of photocopying.
-
16:52 - 16:56McLuhan again said the Xerox turns
every author into a publisher. -
16:56 - 17:00Unfortunately, Xerox manuscripts
don't look like books, -
17:00 - 17:03but again McLuhan was onto something
-
17:03 - 17:08because you didn't need anyone's
permission to Xerox your manuscript. -
17:08 - 17:10But that is really small potatoes,
-
17:10 - 17:14compared to the power
that's now in all of your hands; -
17:14 - 17:17each and every one of you,
you have an idea, -
17:17 - 17:21you have an opinion about something,
you see something that's happening, -
17:21 - 17:25you don't need anyone's permission,
-
17:25 - 17:29you can upload it to your YouTube channel,
you can put it on your blog, -
17:29 - 17:34and you, like this bartender in Florida
-
17:34 - 17:38who reported Mitt Romney's 47% comment,
-
17:38 - 17:42you can change the world.
-
17:42 - 17:43Thank you.
-
17:43 - 17:45(Applause)
- Title:
- Transmedia transnational video journalism | Paul Levinson | TEDxSaintPetersUniversity
- Description:
-
This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at http://ted.com/tedx
Paul Levinson is a professor of Communications and Media Studies at Fordham University. He has authored numerous nonfiction and science-fiction books whose themes revolve around the history and the future of communications media, the First Amendment, the importance of space exploration, and popular cultural themes.
- Video Language:
- English
- Team:
- closed TED
- Project:
- TEDxTalks
- Duration:
- 17:52