During a particularly difficult period in my life, a friend of mine, who was a therapist, pointed out one of my psychological defenses and went on to note the importance of our defenses. Without them, during times when life is coming at you fast, things can easily become overwhelming.

I thought of that today as I read Enric’s post on a video blogging mailing list about the recent discussion about authenticity in digital space.

Enric notes,

“The mistake is in thinking that networked media is about content
(scripted or not, personal or show, etc.)

It's about the disappearance of media gatekeepers.”

I thought about this in terms of presidential politics. My wife was Ned Lamont’s scheduler during his U.S. Senate campaign. There is an important role for gatekeepers, especially in the political realm, and this is what led me back to my thought about psychological defenses.

Perhaps the old media gatekeepers are not disappearing. Perhaps they are being replaced by a different type of gatekeepers. After all, YouTube and the other videosharing services have their own gatekeeping rules about what can go on the site, how it can be shared, how it makes it to the front page, etc. Social networks serve as another part of the gatekeeping mechanism as popular and well liked videos rise to the top.

Are popularity and user ratings better gatekeepers than the producers, editors, and anchors in the traditional media? The fiercely democratic, as well as those interested in ideas like emergence and collective intelligence are likely to think so.