The turbulence in modern media seems less about which channels will be dominant and more about who the new gatekeepers will be. In the established media, editors, producers, reporters, and others filter content and pass to the public what seems newsworthy or saleable. It may not be that the established media is declining because technology is making content more widely available. Instead, it may be that the public is trying to make up its collective mind about whom to trust as its gatekeepers. That's because the public doesn't have the time to surf the Internet and other channels to get accurate information and wise counsel.

There's the NY Times article about Target telling a blogger to go away. Apparently, a blogger sent a note to the retail giant complaining about a particular ad, but Target refused to respond because the blogger wasn't part of what bloggers call the mainstream media. While it makes sense a firm would focus its publicity resources on channels with the widest readership, I suspect Target would have responded to Glenn Reynolds of Instapundit.com who has a huge readership.

And speaking of Instapundit.com, the blog cited this story in Slate about the small group of people who drive much of the content at Digg and Wikipedia. In doing what they do, this small group of people seem to act as gatekeepers like those in the established media.

This may be the heart of the struggle going on the media environment today.