Media is everywhere these days, but the question is, can you trust it? How do you know what is real and what is crooked?
My own view is that just as social media generates material at lightning speed it also has ways of vetting the accuracy of the material which hurtles our way across cyberspace.
So, for instance, while a bystander armed with a cellphone camera captured the dramatic footage of Neda, a young woman being martyred in the Iranian uprising on June 20, it was left to bloggers and journalists to flesh out the details of who she was and, to an extent, how she was killed.
But even when the event is very public, such as the gathering of G8 leaders in L’Aquila, Italy, for a photo opportunity, you may not be seeing what you think you are seeing.
The case of United States President Barack Obama appearing to admire the fine rear form of a young woman is an immediate case in point. One comment seemed to sum up the situation very well. ”Obama’s sleeping on the settee at the White House,” said one.
But the video shows a rather different picture. If Obama did indeed take in this shapely derriere, it was a masterful sneak which the video camera was unable to capture.
Not so for Nicholas Sarkozy who appears permanently headed for the settee.