"Incuriosity of Librarians and Media in Non-Traditional Content and Sources: The Twitter Files as a Case Study."
An essay at "Heterodoxy in the Stacks "
The free substack, Heterodoxy in the Stacks, explores developments in the library and information science field in which there are diverging perspectives.
Today my colleague, James Andrews, and I published an essay:
You can click to read it.
Abstract
Not long after the 2016 U.S. presidential election, journalists, librarians, and academic scholars displayed a notable lack of curiosity toward significant investigative works on digital censorship, such as the "Twitter Files." These reports, which claimed to expose potential collusion between government officials and big tech companies, were largely overlooked by traditional media and information professionals, raising ethical concerns about censorship through selective omission. This paper examines how such incuriosity has limited public access to critical information and driven content creators to independent platforms like Substack. These platforms have become a sort of modern equivalent of samizdat. In addition, we argue there has been a failure of academic and library systems to integrate these non-traditional sources into the public record via indexed and accessible collections, which weakens intellectual freedom and the discoverability of diverse perspectives. A renewed commitment by journalists and librarians is needed wherein they engage with alternative media and content to uphold their roles as impartial gatekeepers of information that can foster a more inclusive discourse.
Fine article. Sometime ago I discovered Wayback doesn’t capture SubStack articles unless requested. So this important archive is missing a lot.
It was the obvious censorship on Twitter that led to me (and many others) to discover SubStack. Most media seems biased so I find a balance on SubStack. The comments are also often decent information.
I am more worried about local support of libraries. "If I want a book, I get it on Amazon." or "Why should we pay so much for a librarian when anyone can check out books." Everything is on the Internet". People need to learn what it takes to be a librarian and how they quietly educate the public.