In Media Res

In Media Res is a term that means "In the very act" and it is relevant to explore some etymology to start off today's rant.
 The Latin stem "media" can mean "in between" or "amid." The implication of calling someone a "medium" is that person is a channel between distinctly different entities: invisible spirits and flesh-and-blood relatives still on earth.. Whatever may be known of the Other Side is mediated through the putative connection that person has with, and ability to transmit from that world to ours. Most of us carry a healthy skepticism of the messages claimed to come through that agency.
Our modern Media --radio, television, print, electronic, etc--direct something from one place to another. Like the old Roman aqueducts, there is an elaborate interlocking system set up that delivers information from some Source high up and far away to our homes for our convenience and consumption. We trust the Keepers of this system to keep our potables pure and useful. We even carry the metaphor further by calling them TV channels (canali).
Now, channels are useful things . High banks, such as levees, contain the flow and direct it so it doesn't overwhelm productive areas with destructive floods and so commerce can proceed along dependable routes and goods and services get delivered. When they breach, everybody suffers--floods go everywhere, and there is mass confusion: authorities step in and take extreme measures. We don't welcome that. Someone,  or many someones make the system flow as efficiently as they desire and as we expect. They keep their eyes on every aspect, control the gates as needed, even dam up and release portions of what goes through to maintain functionality.
This is a rough analogy with how the traditional media operate as well. Sources are numerous, but the Someones who gather the news have definite collection channels and clear ideas on what is or isn't news and methods of capturing and packaging what they gather in ways calculated to be accepted into the system and sent on to gatekeepers--editors, producers, bureau chiefs, etc. These Someones decide what goes further into the channels of distribution, how it's packaged or bottled, and send it on to other Someones who actually deliver the information.
And we, the audience, are the consumers of their product. We trust the Someone whose all-seeing Eye has found out for us what we cannot directly see for ourselves, and has mediated it to us through highly-developed channels for our convenience and consumption.
Another metaphor applies to one of the media in particular: the "far-seer"(television), exemplified by the Big Eye network, for example. One of their famous Someones was once known as the Man Everybody Trusts, and he was the face and voice that talked us through assassinations, space launches and tragedies. He symbolized for us the Reliable Intermediary, whose integrity and truthfulness was impeccable. Gradually, we became aware that our fond projection onto him of our desire for certitude was misplaced: he was just another human like the rest of us, and his fellow Someones had feet of clay as well (and clay muddies the water!).
The social media began to chip away at the traditional channels: little channels were let into the dikes and levees, and at the same time more and more streams of information flowed into the system, overloading it, and causing breakdowns in the control system. All the waters were going everywhere, and with the water came a lot of mud, and roiling debris, and whatnot. Still, there seems to be enough to float everyone's boat--for now.
But now the New Media see the Old Media with many new eyes. Some distrust the messages they can see in their home palantir (Far-seer) sets: the Big Eye and his ilk are losing market share; masses of seekers are rallying to different streams for their personal refreshment and use. But still, everything is mediated through the eyes of Someone--only now it is many someones, and they are mostly anonymous.
Who knows when some Authority may become alarmed enough to try to do something?

"The whole world is watching" was a rally cry of one mass movement in the recent past. We were shown what the cameras saw. The images we saw were chosen by Someone and sent on through gates by other Someones, then delivered to us by well-dressed, coiffed and made-up Someones we trusted.
There are questions we need to ask: Through Whose eyes are we seeing what we see? Can we trust these Messages from beyond? Can we trust the New Media any better? Can we drink in what we see without first checking for what may be suspended in it?