WEBVTT 00:00:11.700 --> 00:00:14.970 Among America's most cherished civil liberties 00:00:14.970 --> 00:00:18.470 are the freedom of speech and freedom of the press. 00:00:20.230 --> 00:00:21.600 Although everyone in America 00:00:21.600 --> 00:00:23.830 enjoys these freedoms, 00:00:23.830 --> 00:00:26.670 until recently, only a few have had access 00:00:26.670 --> 00:00:30.170 to the marketplace to publish their ideas. 00:00:32.130 --> 00:00:34.630 That marketplace was concentrated in the hands 00:00:34.630 --> 00:00:37.130 of newspaper owners 00:00:39.100 --> 00:00:42.100 then the operators of radio and TV stations 00:00:45.330 --> 00:00:47.300 And in the 1980s Cable Television 00:00:47.300 --> 00:00:50.800 brought in the twenty-four hour news channel. 00:00:52.570 --> 00:00:55.630 However, ownership of these media channels 00:00:55.630 --> 00:00:59.130 was still concentrated in a few companies. 00:01:01.070 --> 00:01:03.500 Remarkably, in the first decade 00:01:03.500 --> 00:01:05.600 of the 21st century, 00:01:05.600 --> 00:01:08.530 a great leap forward was taken. 00:01:09.370 --> 00:01:12.530 Anyone with a computer and access to the internet 00:01:12.530 --> 00:01:14.630 could publish their ideas 00:01:14.630 --> 00:01:16.270 and have immediate connection 00:01:16.270 --> 00:01:18.770 to millions of Americans. 00:01:20.170 --> 00:01:22.800 Indeed, thanks to the Internet phenomena 00:01:22.800 --> 00:01:24.870 of You Tube and Blogging, 00:01:24.870 --> 00:01:28.270 American media have been democratized forever. 00:01:30.530 --> 00:01:33.470 The word blog is a blend of the two words 00:01:33.470 --> 00:01:37.330 web and log. 00:01:37.330 --> 00:01:38.970 It is a website where an individual 00:01:38.970 --> 00:01:41.970 makes regular commentaries on anything - 00:01:42.670 --> 00:01:46.930 personal matters, politics, sports, 00:01:46.930 --> 00:01:49.770 entertainment or social events. 00:01:52.370 --> 00:01:55.570 Almost overnight, millions of people began writing 00:01:55.570 --> 00:01:58.570 and publishing their thoughts via the Internet. 00:01:59.700 --> 00:02:02.630 And almost overnight, the blog became part 00:02:02.630 --> 00:02:05.130 of the American media consciousness. 00:02:07.300 --> 00:02:08.870 In the beginning, the blog remained 00:02:08.870 --> 00:02:11.370 a fringe form of media. 00:02:13.070 --> 00:02:16.030 Then, during the 2004 Presidential race, 00:02:16.030 --> 00:02:19.670 CBS news anchor Dan Rather presented documents 00:02:19.670 --> 00:02:22.900 on the CBS show Sixty Minutes, 00:02:22.900 --> 00:02:25.630 claiming President Bush's military service record 00:02:25.630 --> 00:02:28.970 was not what the President said it was. 00:02:31.700 --> 00:02:34.400 Within hours, bloggers presented evidence 00:02:34.400 --> 00:02:37.400 that the CBS documents were forgeries. 00:02:39.700 --> 00:02:43.070 Rather and CBS were forced to apologize, 00:02:43.070 --> 00:02:44.270 and Dan Rather lost his job 00:02:44.270 --> 00:02:47.270 as America's number one news anchor. 00:02:50.670 --> 00:02:52.000 By the end of the first decade 00:02:52.000 --> 00:02:54.230 of the 21st century, 00:02:54.230 --> 00:02:57.170 every major newspaper was on-line 00:02:58.270 --> 00:03:00.330 And Internet only newspapers, 00:03:00.330 --> 00:03:02.170 such as the Huffington Post, 00:03:02.170 --> 00:03:05.170 were challenging traditional news sources. 00:03:09.300 --> 00:03:11.900 It secured legitimacy when President Obama 00:03:11.900 --> 00:03:14.830 called on Huffington Post reporter Sam Stein 00:03:14.830 --> 00:03:16.700 at his first Presidential news conference 00:03:16.700 --> 00:03:18.700 in February of 2009. 00:03:19.470 --> 00:03:21.130 "...the misdeeds of the Bush administration... 00:03:21.130 --> 00:03:22.700 they said that before you turn the page 00:03:22.700 --> 00:03:24.900 you have to read the page first. 00:03:24.900 --> 00:03:26.530 Do you agree with such a proposal? 00:03:26.530 --> 00:03:27.700 And are you willing to rule out 00:03:27.700 --> 00:03:28.770 right here and now 00:03:28.770 --> 00:03:31.630 any prosecution of Bush administration officials?" 00:03:31.630 --> 00:03:32.570 "I haven't seen the proposal 00:03:32.570 --> 00:03:35.770 so I don't want to express an opinion 00:03:35.770 --> 00:03:38.000 on something I haven't seen." 00:03:38.470 --> 00:03:39.930 With this exchange 00:03:39.930 --> 00:03:41.830 Bloggers had shown the world 00:03:41.830 --> 00:03:43.370 they were now a permanent part 00:03:43.370 --> 00:03:46.030 of the American news landscape. 00:03:48.400 --> 00:03:50.530 In February 2005, 00:03:50.530 --> 00:03:53.300 democratization of the American news media 00:03:53.300 --> 00:03:55.470 took another giant leap forward. 00:03:57.870 --> 00:03:59.370 The American Internet entrepreneurs 00:03:59.370 --> 00:04:04.000 Chad Hurley, Steve Chen and Jawed Karim, 00:04:04.000 --> 00:04:07.130 founded YouTube, a video sharing website 00:04:07.130 --> 00:04:08.700 where users can upload, 00:04:08.700 --> 00:04:11.530 view and share video clips. 00:04:13.630 --> 00:04:15.430 The three Midwesterners, 00:04:15.430 --> 00:04:16.870 all in their late twenties, 00:04:16.870 --> 00:04:18.030 came up with the idea 00:04:18.030 --> 00:04:19.930 for a video sharing website 00:04:19.930 --> 00:04:23.100 while working for the ecommerce giant PayPal. 00:04:26.330 --> 00:04:27.430 Through venture capital, 00:04:27.430 --> 00:04:28.570 within a few months 00:04:28.570 --> 00:04:32.630 YouTube was up and running. 00:04:32.630 --> 00:04:34.170 YouTube made it possible 00:04:34.170 --> 00:04:35.770 for anyone to post videos 00:04:35.770 --> 00:04:38.770 that millions of people could watch. 00:04:40.600 --> 00:04:43.170 With the now universal cell phone video camera, 00:04:43.170 --> 00:04:46.600 anyone in the public eye was "On tape" 00:04:46.600 --> 00:04:49.600 and instantly seen by millions on YouTube. 00:04:52.130 --> 00:04:54.830 In addition, anybody with a serious point of view 00:04:54.830 --> 00:04:57.830 could post a video telling their story. 00:05:00.070 --> 00:05:03.470 Today, there are over 120 million bloggers 00:05:03.470 --> 00:05:05.870 in the U.S. using the written word 00:05:05.870 --> 00:05:08.530 and videos to express themselves 00:05:09.330 --> 00:05:11.500 And the figure is growing. 00:05:12.200 --> 00:05:13.430 Bloggers and YouTube 00:05:13.430 --> 00:05:15.930 have become America's new media. 00:05:17.370 --> 00:05:18.400 They have forever changed 00:05:18.400 --> 00:05:21.330 how America gets its news and entertainment.