Since the Internet became popular in the later 1990s, newspaper, radio, and television have been declining.

In fact, the decline of traditional media is beneficial to our society, because it ends the control of public opinion by media giants. In other words, it will be more difficult for major media companies to manipulate public opinion. The results of media manipulation and biased reports can be devastating. For example, in the build up to the 2003 Iraq war, the New York Times published a number of stories claiming to prove that Iraq possessed WMD.

While media giants such as Time Warner and News Corp dominate traditional media, no organization is able to control online media — anyone’s attempt to manipulate public opinion will be a drop of water in the sea of 156 million websites on Earth.

In addition, traditional media is incapable of providing sufficient perspectives that reflect the reality and diversity of our society. For controversial issues, such as the AIG scandal, we may see four experts debating on CNN. However, do four opinions selected by CNN really represent the diverse voices of the general public? Additionally, for minorities and people in foreign countries, fewer opportunities are available for voicing their concerns and reaching the public.

So, how can the Internet solve these problems? Global Voices Online and The Globe Opinion are two examples of how online media becomes the channel to voice public opinion. Global Voices Online is an international network of bloggers and citizen journalists that follow, report, and summarizes what is going on in the blogosphere in every corner of the world. It is an independent non-profit online media in Amsterdam, Netherlands. The Globe Opinion, on the other hand, is a user-generated opinion website. Anyone can post an opinion on this website. The articles with the most recommendations automatically appear on main pages. The Globe Opinion is an independent website based in Montreal, Canada.

In history, newspaper, radio, and television all played the vital role of watchdog in our society; however, as media ownership is increasingly concentrated and the modern society requires more perspectives, traditional media is gradually losing the watchdog status to online media.

Our society is moving on; the media should, too.