‘Internet triumphalism is not a public good’

Near the end of a long article in the New Republic, arguing why transparency in government issues can sometimes have ambiguous results or worse, Lawrence Lessig goes beyond that near the end he jumps into how the Internet has more generally been a two-edged sword:

Reformers rarely feel responsible for the bad that their fantastic new reform effects. Their focus is always on the good. The bad is someone else’s problem. … But as we see the consequences of changes that many of us view as good, we might wonder whether more good might have been done had more responsibility been in the mix. … No one can dislike Craigslist (or Craig), but we all would have benefited from a clearer recognition of what was about to be lost. Internet triumphalism is not a public good.

Something to ponder further, I hope, by the “new media right or wrong” types. But, I’m not holding my breath.

A certain segment of these folks, even if not in tones of conspiracy, talk about “old media” as “gatekeepers.” But, in light of my previous blogpost, if the flip side of “gatekeeper” is to instill a sense of professional ethos, then new media citizen journalists need some gatekeeping.