Michael de Kort, the Coast Guard, and democratised media

http://theinternetispeople.com/2006/08/30/michael-de-kort-the-coast-guard-and-democratised-media/

The Washington Post features a report about Michael de Kort, a Lockheed Martin employee who - after getting no results from the usual channels - posted a whistleblowing video on Youtube about a set of critical security flaws in a fleet of refurbished Coast Guard patrol boats.

The report suggests Michael’s tactics have worked:

This is unlikely to be the last time this happens. As the read/write web allows more and more people to publish content online, people like Michael who have something important to say but would ordinarily not have a voice will able to make their concerns known.

Better yet, thanks to embedded media and social networking, the message can be shared and amplified. Here’s the video:

I can see this becoming ever more important as we start inching closer to the end of President Bush’s term in office and a new US presidential election. The question is - given the dubious turthfulness of some videos online and the propensity of the medium to be used for viral marketing - how many of these messages will we be able to trust?