By Mairead McKeron

Clay Shirky discusses the “revolution”of the Internet in her article, “Newspapers and Thinking the Unthinkable.” The tone ofthe article strongly suggests that Shirky is against the advancement of the Internet because of the negative effect it has on newspapers. Shirky argues that the Internet is an unreliable source of news. While it is ameans for people to obtain a lot of information, this does not mean that the information being gathered is accurate.

Shirky notes how the newspaper industry has been replaced by the Internet, and that it is unlikely that print news will ever recover from these advancements. This change has become inevitable because of how our society has evolved to focus on technology. With new technology being created daily, it has become harder for newspapers to survive.

While Shirky expresses somewhat negative feelings toward the Internet, I think the main message she intends to deliver is that the newspaper industry will most-likely not be able to recoverfrom these setbacks. Although I think that this is an unfortunate fact, I do not necessarily consider it a bad thing. People are still receiving the news and becoming educated, so the Internet is just another means of delivering the news. Why not take the opportunity to become informed from home, with the simple click of a mouse?