Thread by @jeffjarvis

This is good, as far as it goes. It is written from journalism's perspective without acknowledging media's larger strategy, its moral panic, against technology, playing out not only in print but in lobbying governments. 1/
nymag.com/intelligencer/…

See this paragraph from a proposal I'm working on. 2/

What the titan v. titan storyline misses is the public: "reader" to one side, "user" to the other. The internet gave people too long not heard agency; they are flexing their power and that is what scares the incumbents from media and their conspirators in politics. 3/

Yes, this is a story of old power (media) vs. new power (tech). But it leaves out other centers of power: politics (old) and engaged public (new). That is where the real battle will be fought; call it a battle of conservatism v. progress, with many definitions of each. 4/

Also, it's too easy to pick the jerky-seeming actions of a few hubristic, rich technologists & investors and then generalize half a state & its culture. But let's be honest, media folk, there is plenty of hubris & jerkiness among our colleagues and titans! 5/

In the end, this makes for an amusing soap opera but it misses the real story about the real struggle that is underway and how people with power are trying vying to stop each other when what is at stake is much larger: freedom of expression, oppression, identity, and more. 6/

I wish @pmarca were still on Twitter for discussion of this, alongside @balajis & @benedictevans & the many journos hereabouts. I'm also glad, as ever, for @alexstamos' voice of reason in the NYMag piece. Neither SV or NY is Tokyo Bay with Godzilla vs. Mothra. They're companies.

In this context, I recommend @DrTechlash's book, which pins a date to media's pivot from utopian to dystopian tech coverage. (Hint: 2016.) This is a political story, not about right v left but about what politics is always about: power. Media is a player. amazon.com/Techlash-Tech-…