Future Here Now: Charlie is still Us

Reprise

It’s hard to believe I wrote this article nearly 10 years ago, in the aftermath of the shooting at Charlie Hebdo in Paris (Kind of quaint to think we were stunned by an attack on the press back then….) I reprinted it here about 18 months ago. So this is a little early.

But it’s been nagging at me, as we see the role that social media is playing in the current U.S. elections. I’m old enough to remember three major networks with white male anchors in suits who came across as the Ultimate Arbiter of Truth.

Now we all are — at least, all of us with a Facebook or TikTok account. And as the guardrails that kept Tom Brokaw or Dan Rather from saying any fool thing they wanted to fell away, we find ourselves in the position of having limitless information, but needing a whole new set of skills to make sense of it - or use it in ways…