It is now easier than ever to make your opinions heard thanks to the Internet, but there is debate over whether that lowering of barriers has led to a kind of democracy, or just chaos.
SBS asked the editors of major Australian opinion portals and a writer who freelances for them what the online environment has meant for social commentary.
To illustrate the ease of posting an opinion online in a variety of formats, SBS has used mobile devices - some Internet-enabled - for interviews in this story.
Crikey's Canberra correspondent Bernard Keane began as a blogger. He says the accessibility of online publishing to large numbers of people boosts the value of skills like contextualising and analysing information.
Bernard recorded himself on a laptop and emailed SBS the files. We uploaded them to AudioBoo, where they can still be found via a simple keyword search.
News that makes sense
Your trusted source for staying up-to-date with the world around you. Get free daily news updates and analysis, straight to your inbox.
Sydney writer Stilgherrian filmed himself using his laptop in an alley in Marrickville to tell SBS his misgivings about the term 'social commentary' and what it means online. He then uploaded his clip to Viddler.com, where SBS accessed its embed code.
Tim Burrowes, editor of Australian media and marketing portal mUmbrella talks about the marketing potential he discovered when he began to give readers a chance to have their say online.
This interview was shot on a high-definition video camera the size of a mobile phone, called the Flip Mino HD. It is not yet Internet-enabled, but it does have an in-built USB drive.
Jonathan Green recently became editor of ABC's analysis portal The Drum after three years heading up Crikey. He emailed SBS his answers to six questions on on social commentary.
SBS: What is social commentary, and how is it different online to in newspapers and on radio/TV?
Jonathan Green: Good question ... what is social commentary? If that means means media based observation of society, culture, affairs, then I guess the main difference is the immediacy and flexibility available online. The more mainstream forms face all sorts of constraints - some physical, some technical - that restrict the scope of commentary, the range of voices, the forms that it can take.
SBS: Do you see sites like Crikey, The Punch, The Drum and Mumbrella as being in competition with older media forms?
Jonathan Green: Everybody is trying to carve out some sort of space, grab a bit of attention.
Most practitioners online aren't looking for the sort of massive audience that characterises the mass-media of old, so the sense of competition isn't quite one-on-one, even if we are chasing the same minds and eyeballs.
We're happy if we get them for 10 minutes this afternoon. Channel Nine wants to sign you up eight hours a day for life.
Online operations are more like flies buzzing round the head of big network monoliths. The cumulative effect is very competitive, but that competition between heritage media and new forms lies more in the medium versus medium realm rather than any one online outlet taking on the big boys.
SBS: How have online environments changed the practice of social commentary?
Jonathan Green: There are big differences in tone, and the field is also open to a far wider range of voices. The barriers to entry online are so obviously lower than mainstream media ... commentary has been democratised to some extent. the new elite voices tend to be those most capable of expressing a memorable thought rather than the few with access to the Op-Ed pages of the major daily newspapers.
SBS: Does online have any weaknesses compared to older media?
That democratisation is both a virtue and a fatal flaw. Too many voices, too little quality control.
SBS: You've watched online social commentary grow as editor of Crikey and now The Drum. How has it changed during your career?
Jonathan Green: I'm still very nervous about commentary. It's a potent force that must be used judiciously and for good rather than random evil in my book.
Blame my 30 years in journalism and its hard and repeated lessons - and its scant regard for personal opinion too.
The great risk for journalism going forward is that opinion (which is easily given, but rarely worth noting) starts to trump the facts.
But back to the question, moving online has given me a great opportunity to keep learning into my fourth decade in the job. I feel a great sense of privilege.
