Media at an All-time High

With the inauguration of Barack Obama yesterday, the media covering this year’s US Presidential election kicked it up another notch, if that’s possible.

Throughout the election, every move and faux pas by those in the running was captured in text, images, and video and shared / commented at levels that have never been seen before. It was interesting to watch on two levels. At the high end, we saw the news networks engaging in camera angles and technologies that were never possible until now. At the low end, we saw people with cell phones and bloggers with keyboards recording their thoughts and sharing whatever comes to mind.

We saw candidates on Twitter giving us the blow by blow.

I found all of this fascinating. On the high tech end, we got opportunities to see technologies that we know will eventually trickle down in price so that we can all enjoy it. On the low end, we enabled anyone who wished the opportunity to have a voice and an opinion to be freely shared without censor. On Twitter, if you followed closely, we saw just how hectic a pace that all of the candidates kept.

There were lessons in media literacy and technology for all classrooms should you be following it.

Less than a day after the inauguration speech, a Google search reveals over 600 000 hits for the search string “obama inauguration speech“.

Some other things to check out and bookmark…

CNN’s Photosynth Experiment where folks sent in their images of the swearing in and they crafted this panorama from the results.
Photos from space of the crowds at the inauguration.
Replays of the swearing in ceremony
New media experiments from those employed in traditional media

There is so much more. The major networks were doing their best on the human interest angle as well. Last night, I watched as CNN used their interactive screen to show what balls the Obamas were attending and how they got there. There was coverage and commentary on the clothing worn. There was even speculation that the girls had a sleep over with friends at the White House.

That the media raised this event to new levels, there can be no doubt. I’ve always maintained that it takes a special person to put themselves on display for analysis in so many different angles.

You’ve just got to know that the conversation will continue in classrooms, workspaces, and around water coolers world wide today. People may not have been part of the audience but with the use of the media at so many levels, everyone is an expert at some level.

And, if you’re in need of a second opinion, check out the 676 front pages at the Newseum. Is there any question what the top story is?

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