Internet Opens so Many More Possibilities for Journalists, Creators of Content

Recently, I watched two of my favorite movies for probably the millionth time each by now - 1981's Reds, which starred Warren Beatty as journalist John Reed, and 2008's Frost/Nixon, which featured Michael Sheen as David Frost and Frank Langella as Richard Nixon.

Reds, which also featured Diane Keaton and Jack Nicholson, along with a couple brief appearances by Gene Hackman, instilled in me a love for journalism and the adventure that can accompany it. Reed (1887-1920) was an American journalist and later became a communist activist. He also dabbled in poetry from time to time. Among his more notable travels and works, he witnessed the Bolshevik Revolution in 1917 Russia, which eventually led to the creation of the Soviet Union, and authored a book based on his eye-witness accounts of the revolution, 10 Days that Shook the World. Though I certainly find many disagreements with his brand of politics, I admire him for his love of adventure in that he didn't seem to care how dangerous his travels were - he would go out and get the story, no matter how difficult.

Frost/Nixon only served to strengthen my love for the craft and the adventure involved. David Frost was a well-known and popular British talk-show host, comedian, and media personality, when, at the age of 36, he went out on a whim and took a big gamble on his career by securing a television interview with former U.S. president Richard Nixon. The interview sure paid off, as Nixon finally admitted openly in it to his role in the Watergate scandal.

Why am I talking about these two films in a piece that's supposed to be talking about the Internet, you ask? Because they tie into what I have to say here.

In Reed's time, people still relied heavily on the use of cables to get word out, and this is evident in the film. In the latter half of the 1970s, at the time of the Frost-Nixon interviews, there was no medium to broadcast video aside from television, and you had to waggle with the networks if you wanted to put something on the tube. And if the networks thought your work wouldn't be profitable enough, they didn't want to be bothered. This was initially a problem for Frost, who kept getting turned down by the networks because they feared they wouldn't be able to sell enough commercial spots to make the project lucrative enough.

That being said, I am grateful that I live in the age I do. Advances in Internet technology make it so much easier and faster to get the story out to the world; allow average, everyday people (like me) a better chance at getting noticed for their work by bypassing traditional publishers, television, and radio and going straight to the audience; and afford countless people the opportunity to earn an income by doing something they truly love to do, which is creating content.

You have Suite101, a site that bills itself as the largest online magazine, allowing people to publish factual, neutral, third-person articles. You have Associated Content, a site that is similar to Suite 101, but also allows opinion pieces and fiction and encourages use of other multi-media formats, such as audio and video. In the case of both sites, writers can build a professional portfolio, gain an audience, and earn income from their work. There's Scribd, a document-sharing site that allows publishers the choice of either freely sharing their files with the world or selling them as e-books and pamphlets and such. Don't forget about Global Talk Radio, an online radio station that allows everyday people to host their own regularly scheduled shows or even just one-time shows. According to its Web site, it boasts 27,558,970 total hits through the end of 2009. And of course, we can't leave out YouTube, the ever-popular video sharing site. Everyday people are making videos and even shows of all sorts and actually selling commercial spots in them. Frost finally was able to get his interview broadcast on television, but if he hadn't been able to, and it was 2010 rather than 1977, he would have had another avenue open to him.

Yep, I am grateful that I live in the age I do...