• The Atlantic, Tuesday, June 16, 2009 9:30 AM

Want to know where the news media is headed? Watch the upheaval in Iran this week. As the Iranian regime shut down other forms of communication, Twitter survived, with remarkable results. For instance, the rooftop protest chants that became deafening in Tehran on Saturday were by promoted by a Twitter message.

That a new information technology could be improvised for this purpose so swiftly is a sign of the times. It reveals in Iran what the Obama campaign revealed in the United States. You cannot control people any longer. They can bypass your established media; they can broadcast to one another; they can organize as never before.

The key force behind this is the next generation, the Millennials, who elected Obama in America and may oust Ahmadinejad in Iran. They want freedom, and they know hope. This generation will bypass existing institutions, media and methods: look at the record turnout in Iran and the massive mobilization of the young and minority vote in the U.S. They will use technology to displace old modes and orders.

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