Friday, October 22, 1999

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When the media is silenced, the Web roars

By Amir Ben David and Nicole Krau,
Ha'aretz Correspondents

THE minute the court tied the hands of the established media, forbidding it from making any reference to the new Nimrodi investigation, the Internet took over as virtually the sole means of transmitting information about the affair. Within days, the Web was filled with hair-raising stories. Those with an Internet connection could access all the relevant information, including details still barred from publication, wrapped up in a jumble of strange false rumors. The media's silence only served to increase the surfers' feeling that a massive conspiracy was brewing, involving the country's top echelons.

In many respects, the new Nimrodi affair is a turning point in the history of the Internet in Israel. Unlike the rape of Miss World Linor Abergil, which drew attention abroad as well, and unlike various security affairs which were naturally of interest outside of Israel, the suspicions against Ofer Nimrodi are purely an internal affair. This is thus the first time that Israeli Internet sites have served as a central arena for information not transmitted by any other means.

The Petah Tikvah Magistrate's Court issued the gag order in the Nimrodi affair on October 6. Four days later rumors began spreading in the capital market, sending the Nimrodi owned Israel Land Development Corporation (Hachsharat Hayeshuv) stock into freefall.

The gossip began snowballing on October 12. "Notice the drop in ILDC?," one surfer enquired. Three minutes later, another posted the following response: "Rumors are being spread about Nimrodi. Does anyone know how true they are?" Two hours later someone added: "There are rumors that he is missed in jail. What has he done?" Within hours the forum was swamped with reports, including some that were published in the media only today, as well as many false rumors.

Officialdom must recognize the new rules of the game imposed by the Internet. Courts can forbid the media from publishing, but they cannot prevent people from gossiping in the town square. Now that the town square has moved into the virtual world, anyone with a PC and phone line can broadcast information to the entire world, at minimal effort and cost. When the media is prevented from refering to this information, as happened in the Nimrodi affair, the stories circulated on the web are suddenly elevated from their usual status of unfounded gossip not taken too seriously, to the level of the sole information available to the public.