After centuries of power being exercised by politicians and military men, after the dominance of economists, I think a new group of rulers is emerging. I will call them “the mediators.”
I think the complexity of the modern world creates the need for understanding and explaining every aspect of everyday life.
It is obvious that journalism in any form (printed, virtual or digital) is the most appropriate mediator.
Journalists as “carriers of the living archival material of history” and as “historians of the immediate present”, with scientific prestige, scientists with a willingness to simplify and publicize the achievements in their field, are already essential and will continue to be essential for the understanding of even the simplest phenomena. The ability to immediately adapt to modernity is and will be an indication of a keen lifelong education and a weapon for a successful career.
However, what is being asked today is about the relationship and management of space and time in the modern world, with the new technology as a tool. The positive thing is that the speed at which you receive information is so fast that you understand that time has value, and the negative thing is that the unimaginable amount of uncontrolled information, which overwhelms every internet user, makes it impossible to distinguish between truth and lies.
When there is no…filter
Due to its rapid speed, information becomes overinformation and therefore can easily become misinformation. Hence the abundance of fake news that is marketed, but also that is made credible. Its victims are all, without exception, those addicted to the incessant use and recourse to unfiltered mass media.
I worry about young children who are obsessed with the internet, because they lose the normality and emotion that is the essence. The digital universe is the natural space of action (virtual of course, which replaces action) for anyone (therefore for humanity). Against misinformation, safeguards are desperately sought in order to avoid general confusion.
Is there a collective response? What is self-defense? What are the mechanisms? How is public opinion created? Does it express a truth or is it based only on the majority, that is, the acceptance of it by the many, regardless of the credibility of the content? Life without rules, which transforms the private into a public space, threatens our daily lives. Therefore, there is a need to reformulate a code that will ensure the accuracy of data and expression in journalism.
Our society, and especially young children, need correct information with values and codes of ethics. I hope and wish that the communication attempted by the media does not lose its original meaning, that of the coexistence of citizens with their fellow citizens.
Congratulations to Naftemporiki! I wish it to continue its successful course.
* Helene Glykatzi-Ahrweiler, Academic Byzantinologist
