Words by Neal Romanek
BATTLING THE CYBER MEN IN THE YEAR 2021
Fighting Covid gave us superpowers. Let’s use them to make a better media world
ou know how in horror movies the monster seems to have been defeated, but is actually just unconscious or has
z z A lot of the things we thought mattered, don’t matter as much as we thought they mattered. z z Taking responsibility for your fellow human beings is non-negotiable. z z And I’m sure you could add to the list. I hope these lesson stick. Because there is another huge challenge coming up and it’s not going away. We have to face it, and we have to do something about it now. The media industry is one of the most powerful sectors on earth. There’s a reason that some governments are abandoning buying billion-dollar fighter planes and instead building their defence strategies on what comes out of screens. THE CYBERWAR Despite some of the recent high- profile political reshuffling, the cyberwar is still in full swing. Cyberwar – or the ‘information war,’ if you prefer – affects every aspect of our lives, from economics to politics to public health to the sovereignty of nations. What is cyberwar? First, cyberwar is not slick anime villains in leather trench coats breaking their way into Fort Knox by reprogramming laser-eyed security robots (well, not
together in special-interest Zoom groups from around the world, offering people access to more content than could be consumed in a human lifetime. People even started to get in shape – for few a couple weeks in April – with fitness experts coming into people’s homes like some kind of iPhone-wielding exercise instructors from Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four . At the time of writing, it looks like mass Covid vaccination is imminent. At the end of what has been a very difficult year, it looks like some things may be turning around. There’s a ray of hope. But it’s not my job to give you hope. Save that for your Instagram friends. There are woods that we are still not yet out of. My earnest believe is that we have all learnt from the trial of Covid. We have learnt some great lessons. We’ve learnt: z z We are tough and resilient. z z Pressure and clear boundaries result in creative innovation. z z Media tech works best when it’s in the hands of humans, not algorithms. z z Working from home is not as easy as we thought. z z Working from home is a lot easier than we thought. z z As a business owner, my first duty is my employees’ wellness.
gone to get a coke before returning for the final act to manifest as something even scarier? Well, that’s where we are, I’m afraid. The year 2020 was a big scary monster. We’re through it now, and some of its problems seem to have been resolved – elections have been had and vaccines are on the way – but the truth is that we have some big problems still to face in 2021. Michael Myers seems to be dead, but ... We’re back aboard the Sulaco and Bishop did okay, but ... I know you’d like to hear something encouraging and heart-warming and positive about a brighter future in 2021. Sorry. If you wanted that, you should have picked a different editor. The past year was no picnic – no, it was more like a meticulously wrapped sandwich eaten in the middle of an abandoned car park while staring at your phone. And just as you get to the good bit, a bird grabs it from your hand. But we adapted amazingly well to the pandemic. Media tech played a great part in that, bringing people
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