There used to be a town crier in every town. His occupation grew out of the fact that in medieval England people couldn’t read and write. His job was to ring a bell and shout the news, literally, once or sometimes twice a day. Some criers were women. Having a loud voice was more important than your gender.
As people learned to read and write, and as printing presses became both smaller and more available, newspapers rose to prominence. But putting out a newspaper was a big effort, and many times the “news” lagged weeks or even months behind the events that shaped the news.
All of this took a sharp jump forward during the start of the American Revolution when Thomas Paine utilized a powerful new weapon to spread his views. He employed (drum roll) the pamphlet. At that time, his quick-press pronouncements were as immediate as a town crier and were a precursor to today’s blogs. They were self-published and extremely effective. Several of them swiftly changed the course of history.
You may be familiar with these words from The Crisis, published December 23, 1776, at a point when the revolution teetered between success and failure.
“THESE are the times that try men's souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands by it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman.” And think about these pointed and clearly revolutionary words from Common Sense, a document that is credited with sparking the dissent that spawned the American Revolution. “Society is produced by our wants, and government by our wickedness; the former promotes our happiness POSITIVELY by uniting our affections, the latter NEGATIVELY by restraining our vices. The one encourages intercourse, the other creates distinctions. The first is a patron, the last a punisher.” I wonder how popular Thomas Paine would be today on a cable network? Or talk radio? Or how many people would follow his blog, or his Twitter page? People are not waiting for our doddering and dusty old media to inform them. They’re doing their own investigative journalism. The young couple who exposed ACORN through their use of a hidden camera are the newest town criers on the scene; and they are doing more than shouting out the news. They are actually releasing hard evidence and plastering it all over YouTube, Twitter, and other social media. They are the Thomas Paines of the day—and their power of persuasion is just beginning to show its face and its force. When CNN can’t bring us the immediate news in Iran during a scandalous election and the ensuing demonstrations—but Twitter can—you know “news reporting” is experiencing a seismic shift. Our gathering of evidence and behavior in CultureWaves® through our Neemee™ software reminds me a little of the brave new reporters on YouTube and Twitter. Our collectors of behavior from life don’t expect it to drop in their laps, they’re going out and getting it themselves. And they are sharing it everyday—like 10 million town criers all shouting at once. It’s something I’m proud to be a part of, and somewhat humbled by. Now if I could only write like Thomas Paine. That’s it, from the edge of the world, Bob To see the ACORN video on YouTube, click here. Image: Town Crier, Provincetown, Massachusetts; from a 1909 postcard published by Provincetown Advocate, Provincetown, Massachusetts. Please click here for the source.
Today everyone who has a blog, or a Twitter page, or one of the many other social networking sites, has a “street corner” where he or she can shout out news and views as they see it. So we now have a million, or 10 million, or perhaps 50 million town criers all over the internet. The newspapers and network media are being left behind, just as they were by Paine’s innovative pamphlets.
