Australia and the developed world face an ''information meltdown'' that threatens traditional media and confidence in parliamentary democracy, former British home secretary David Blunkett says.
''We are sleepwalking into a situation where people believe that the free-for-all for information and the uploading of information from iPhones ... is actually the alternative to properly edited and moderated news,'' he told the National Press Club yesterday.
Mr Blunkett said unmoderated access to information via the internet and new media risked a general ''dumbing-down'' of public discourse and the potential collapse of traditional newspapers if they did not rise to the challenges posed by rapidly evolving information technology.
He said there was no substitute for real journalism, adding bloggers were amateurs who mistakenly thought they practised journalism but worked without any editorial discipline or quality control, and were unaccountable to their audiences.
''The challenge for all of us is actually to be able to do better ... something that rapidly erodes the standards and the professional commitment of the traditional media.''
Mr Blunkett said traditional media needed to lift their game and offer much higher quality news and analysis, ''something better than you can get than relying on ... amateur journalists.''
Drawing on four decades of political activity, Mr Blunkett also reflected on the effects of the electronic media on the acceleration of the daily political cycle, saying politics was now more often about ''surface-skimming'' than deep thinking. He said voters now had much greater access to information about politics and increasingly expected instant answers from politicians.
''There are great gains coming from this, many good things, in terms of transparency and the opening up of the political process,'' he said.
''... But the consequences are that you get instant reaction, you get instant answers, and, of course, you get a world where people are starting to know more about politics in a way that makes them all the more distrustful and cynical.''
Mr Blunkett said he believed many people were ignorant of the dangers of information technology, especially its effect on privacy and the potential for governments and private enterprise to accumulate vast amounts of information about individual citizens.
Having twice been forced to relinquish ministerial office amid political controversy, Mr Blunkett said there had been times when he had been treated ''grossly unfairly'' by the media.
But as a long-time political operative, he had ''lived by the sword and died by the sword''.
Mr Blunkett also gave his tick of approval to Prime Minister Kevin Rudd for his handling of the asylum-seeker debate. ''He's already had the message, hasn't he stay tough, stay fair when you don't know what you're going to do, stay schtum,'' Mr Blunkett said.
Immigration was a central issue for MrBlunkett during his three years at Britain's Home Office, which ended in 2004.
As the stand-off between 78 asylum-seekers and authorities continues aboard the Australian Customs vessel Oceanic Viking moored in Indonesia waters, he warned that such issues required a deft touch from politicians and the media.
''It is the most inflammatory issue that I've ever come across,'' Mr Blunkett said, adding it transformed rational people into zealots.
''It creates a knock-on effect, a chain-reaction effect, which has an impact on wider politics beyond the actual issue,'' he said.
But aside from addressing the public's subliminal fear of asylum-seekers, MrBlunkett declined to offer advice to Australia's Government, saying Britain had enough difficulties itself.
with AAP
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