Ava Lowery: 15 Years of Fame
As if to precisely illustrate my point below, check out the CNN interview with Ava Lowery (via C&L), the 15-year-old blogger whose provocative (but hardly sacrilegious) online videos have earned her death-threats.
Okay, first—and I hate to get polemic about it, but really, they’ve forced my hand—if you’re the kind of person who would threaten to kill a young person who is criticizing the killing of young people, you need to turn off your computer and go think about about your values. (Lowery herself is willing to give them the benefit of the doubt as to the age issue, but that doesn’t really let any of these cretins off the hook, in my book.)
Beyond that, here are the moving parts that I see:
• This young woman did research online, formed her own opinions, and created video works that expressed that opinion.
• She posted this stuff online and caught the attention not only of other bloggers, but of traditional media.
• CNN Anchor Carol Lin asks tougher questions of Lowery than Tom Delay or Dick Cheney face on Fox.
• Lin, though she admires Lowery in a way, almost taunts her guest, asking (paraphrase) “Don’t you think these bloggers might be using you?” Lowery sticks the response: “Well, I guess I’m using them, too, so it goes both ways.”
• In truth, what Lin doesn’t understand—can’t understand from the institutional perspective—is that Lowery, like all those other bloggers, is an independent media creator. Unless it turns out that someone is setting her up as a propaganda tool (possible, but I really don’t think so), she isn’t part of a monolithic system with a unitary agenda like “let’s use Ava Lowery.” There is no such thing as “these bloggers.”
• Lowery is using this media system to communicate within a public sphere of democratic debate. Good for her.
• CNN (Lin) misses the point in two ways. First, the notion that a Christian hymn juxtaposed with images of injured Iraqi children is counter-intuitive or “flip” is preposterous. The point is obvious and on target. Unless Christian hymns mean something other than their words and history.
• Second, why is CNN reporting on this girl’s project without actually reporting on the dead and injured children of the Iraq war? Lowery nails it again: a 15-year-old getting death threats (especially for a political statement) is “a good hook.” Why is that a better hook than tens of thousands of injured Iraqi children?
• On that topic, by the way, Lowery just scooped, skunked and punked CNN. She shifted the agenda. For a moment at least, the national media are talking about what she, Ava Lowery, wants to talk about. Again, this young woman has proven why and how this shift toward independent media is changing the rules. Get used to it, Carol Lin.
• Caveat emptor. No one should accept Lowery’s work (or this site, for that matter) at face value, especially CNN. Before declaring Ava Lowery the standard bearer of new media, I’d want to know, for example, how is she paying for the bandwidth? It’s bound to cost a lot, but you can also make a lot via Paypal or advertising. But who cares if she’s not paying for it out of her own pocket? Maybe a parent is paying for it; I wouldn’t have a problem with that. Actually it looks like it’s part of HuffPo’s Contagious Festival, which is also fine. I buy her work as authentic and welcome the reporting that would expose an astroturf project on either side of the political spectrum. And cheers to Huffington Post for creating a structure where independent political media can get seen.
• It would be easy to knock her production values or say she’s being overhyped. And while I personally may not share some of her religious or political beliefs (I really don’t know either way), Lowery has proven that the debate can be changed, that issues can be raised. The smart use of independent media is one cheap and effective way to do it. And that is a very encouraging development.
I could go on, but you get the point. The traditional media might was well wake up and embrace it: the people are talking back.
