Perez reshapes the public sphere

The notion of citizen media, and its effect on the public sphere, has become very prevalent in this modern day and age. This is due to the fact that the internet, as a new technology, allows for the sharing of a vast amount of ideas and information across the entire globe. This sharing and interconnectedness allows for information to travel at a rapid pace, and also allows anyone with access to a computer to become part of this virtual community. This existence of a virtual community connected through the internet has had a drastic effect on the notion of the public sphere. Rather than being provided information from traditional media outlets such as newspapers and daily news shows, which tend to be a one to many medium, citizen media provides a many to many medium where anyone can participate and express and form their own opinions freely.

There is no better example to display this than the recent incident involving ‘famous’ blogger Perez Hilton. Perez Hilton runs a celebrity gossip blog http://perezhilton.com/ that has become very popular and as such Hilton has become somewhat of a citizen media symbol. On June 22^nd 2009, Hilton was supposedly assaulted by Will I Am, a leading member of the group The Black Eyed Peas. This incident was covered by the popular culture connoisseur MTV, and the details of the incident can be found in the link provided. http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1614452/20090622/will_i_am.jhtml. What is truly of importance here is the fact that after this incident occurred Perez Hilton turned to his twitter account to notify fans and the police, rather than just calling the police directly. What is really disturbing is that Hilton’s tweet for help was responded to in quick and efficient manner, probably quicker than if he had just called the police directly. This example demonstrates the explosion of citizen media and the effect it is having on the public sphere. Everyone is now connected and is updated of events and occurrences as they happen, that is also because we are there, we as citizens are everywhere and now that we have the power to express our views and opinions to a wide majority of people, we are changing the public sphere.

Information is created and obtained by citizens who have first hand knowledge of the situation, as demonstrated by this video clip of the incident recorded on someone’s cell phone http://www.tmz.com/2009/06/22/perez-vs-will-i-am-caught-on-tape/. We the citizen are everywhere and as such have access to information that shapes public opinion, and citizen media such as blogs allow us to share our opinions with the entire globe. This technology allows for rapid responses such as Will I Am’s video clip explaining his side of the story http://dipdive.com/member/iamwill/tv/#/~/videoplayer/0/undefined/48837/~.

The emergence of this new form of citizen media allows for the instantaneous sharing of information, and as such has reshaped the public sphere to an open arena where anyone can participate freely from coercion. Citizens now have a place to express their ideas and opinions freely and immediately. This allows us the citizen to become news makers and provide the latest and breaking news that is seen as important to us. While every blog posting will not be credible and filled with important information that shapes public opinion,(like the story mentioned above) it is the fact that we have this ability to become newsmakers, and actively participate in a medium that was originally held in the hands of a few. This has lead to a redefinition of the public sphere because now rather than passively waiting to be supplied information that shapes public opinion, we the citizen, can become active and post stories that are of importance to us. In doing so we are redefining the public sphere, from an arena that was limited in scope because of the biased information provided, to an arena where the information is created by us.

This can be viewed as either a negative or positive social force. The true consequences have yet to be seen because citizen media is still a new and exciting medium that has not reached its full potential. Until next time keep Expressing Something Real.

-The Ubiquitous Civilian