By controlling the means of mass communication, they can make us feel more isolated and alone than we really are.
Education and health are probably the key methods for societies to realize self-empowerment. And since communication is most of what education is, that makes mass communication a critical device in how each one of us formulates our view of the world around us (especially beyond us).
Right now the Internet is the only means of mass communication still dominated by diverse and opposing viewpoints.. I think it’s for this reason that we have a movement as massive as we do, trying to counter forces of oppression. The internet is the only place where we can FIND OUT about opinions and reports that contradict what is being broadcast on TV, Radio, and Print. It is the very means with which we even know that things like media consolidation / net un-neutrality / etc. are happening and that there are other people out there who don’t like it either.
Remember there is no such thing as common knowledge, only what is either experienced directly or passed on from one person to another.
If there is a question of focus, that could go in several directions. Either we fight to protect the internet over all else and branch out from there.. or we get some other medium up and known as fast as we can before they shut down the open internet.. or we give up both to take over TV or Radio.
I don’t know. Neither of these focus actions sound as good as keeping at all fronts.
I guess the biggest thing to consider is that we HAVE to keep some line of communication up between all of us, whatever it may be.