The recent hubbub concerning supposed bizarre photos of popular boxer Oscar De La Hoya speaks volumes about the power of the Internet -- as if we needed to be reminded.
You may have missed it but in seamier quadrants of the cyber universe, a number of sports- and celebrity-oriented Web sites have been running what I'll simply call "odd" photos that may or may not be of De La Hoya in unusual feminine apparel (some of the fishnet variety) occasionally with a similarly dressed woman who is being identified as a topless dancer.
You can find the photos easily enough so we won't link to them.
De La Hoya is contending that the pictures are fabrications. The implication would be that there is some photo manipulation going on. While the Internet has been buzzing with it, mainstream media has done almost nothing with the story. Finally, a big city paper has referenced the situation, The New York Post on its Page Six.
This reminds me of a story last spring when non-MSM Internet sports Web sites reported that an NFL assistant coach had had the classic office computer "D'oh" moment when he mistakenly sent an inappropriate e-mail to just about everyone in the league, including headquarters in New York. For quite a while, it was impossible to verify and the allegation was a little delicate, so MSM shied away. Meanwhile, the Internet was crackling with it. Finally, around Memorial Day, when everyone was at the beach, Steelers assistant Larry Zierlein came clean.
The above are examples of the reach of this medium and how in the Balkanization of mass media, almost nothing goes undetected or unreported. These occasions also illustrate how the different strata of media react to the same events. And no one, I mean no one, knows what effect this might have on the practices of news gatherers in the future or what the audience can expect to be exposed to down the road.
