The Age of Electronic Media
Have you ever heard the phrase “Don’t believe everything you read”? Well, the Internet has made this phrase even more important than ever. Wikipedia had their problems several years ago when Jay Leno made them a laughingstock by going online during his show and editing the definition of elephants. Leno altered the definition to claim that elephants roamed wild throughout North America. Wikipedia has since locked access to many of their sections to prevent this.
I received an email from a friend touting the fascism of Sarah Palin this weekend. He sent a list of books that Sarah has ’supposedly’ banned while she was mayor of Wasilla, Alaska. I looked at the list of books and was shocked, and then I noticed that all the Harry Potter books were on the list. This struck me as odd and so I googled “Sarah Palin banned books.” I found out this was a hoax. When Sarah Palin supposedly banned these books in 1996, none of the Harry Potter books had been published. But, of course, this Internet lie was circulating and some people will take this as Gospel and never believe anything else.
There is something to be said about electronic media having a “bricks and mortar” base. About seven years ago I was a guest speaker at The Leading Hotels of the World management conference, and I spoke about the Internet and my newsletter. There were so many websites and newsletters floating around the Internet touting travel, and many were written by disgruntled travelers or travel writers. My point was that a travel Internet site, backed with bricks and mortar, makes for a more reputable read.
As a publisher of two newsletters, eFlyer USA (celebrating its five-year run in December) and eFlyer Asia (launching this week), I find our way of producing and writing even more refreshing.
-Fran Gallagher, publisher and CEO
