New Media – Power to the people or threat to stability?

These 2 articles discussed about issues whether new media was a threat to stability or power to people. With the first article discussing about "the Internet- being the last hope for free press" and the second article about extremists making use of the Internet to "buy over" teens.

I agree with both articles. New media can be both a threat to stability and a kind of power to the people. in article one, it mentioned that the Internet has many different kinds of articles, articles from bloggers, articles from newspapers and also outlets like youtube for teenagers to vent their frustrations about the society. It also mentioned that "mistakes and biases in the MSM are exposed within hours or even minutes of an article’s release." Thus whether the Internet is a kind of power, depends on what kind of article it is. For example, Xiaxue vs. some professional journalist who is writing for the papers. The professional journalist should be able to provide a more fair judgement to a certain extent. Sometimes, the "newspapers repeatedly fail us, sometimes with tragic consequences, such as during the buildup to war in Iraq." We would then have to turn to the Internet to know the truths. Thus, the Internet can actually act as a kind of power during such circumstances like the Iraq war, where the public is denied of the truth.

However, the new media can also be a threat to stability like how article 2 mentioned. "The use of the Internet for terror purposes is not a new phenomenon. Even before the Sept 11, 2001 attacks on the US, terrorists were exploiting the Internet for fund-raising, training and planning purposes. It is now primarily used for radicalisation and recruitment purposes." Thus, new media can actually "brainwash" the youths using this outlet( the Internet). Which then, the Internet becomes a threat to stability. "EXTREMISTS have even become adept in crafting their message to suit their target audience. Many terror websites are flashy and well-designed and feature visually arresting graphic content. Many also offer chatrooms, music videos and other features that are obviously targeted at a computer-savvy, media-saturated generation - namely, the young." as youths turn to Internet for entertainment or as an outlet for their frustrations, they stumble upon such materials and gets recruited to join the jihad movement.
For example, pornography, teens usually don't know about such materials, but they stumble upon pornography pop-ups, and they get addicted to pornography. Thus, Internet can actually be a threat to stability.

Whether it is a power or a threat to stability, it is something that cannot be easily measured. As what Dionne has mentioned in the previous post, "there are benefits of the Internet that affect everyone positively but as for now countering the negativities such as people who use the Internet to create chaos is the only thing any government can do". If the Internet is use the correct way, it can be a power to the people. Of course, we cannot ensure that everyone is going to use it the right way, thus maybe an independent community can act as a kind of watchdog to make sure that new media does not become a threat to stability.