Americans have long cherished freedom of the press and the open competition of views in what’s called the marketplace of ideas. But, if you think our system is as open and democratic as possible, Jeff Fairbanks, global head of AV and media technology at Bloomberg LP, wants you to know you ain’t seen nothing yet.

Fairbanks told John Furrier, host of theCUBE, from the SiliconANGLE Media team, during Enterprise Connect 2016 that his company and many others are abandoning the old gatekeeper model and allowing users to choose what news is important. “Now the masses have a real genuine say in the creation of content and the depth and breadth of the content,” he said.

When Gawker Media began using algorithms to track clicks on its stories, many foresaw a new era of media dawning. Fairbanks said that era is now (and the results will be useful for more than rating the juice factor on take-down pieces). “It’s truly a marketplace of ideas,” he said, emphasizing the elimination of sponsor and broadcaster influence so that stories truly important to the people can be aired.

Cloud and social — the perfect climate for real-time news

Fairbanks spoke about the cloud as a tool to help disparate organizations converge to deliver value to consumers and end users in an almost limitless array of services. A camera phone, for instance, is now all that’s needed for Bloomberg reporters to capture a story, upload it to the site, and get feedback from viewers, all in minutes.

Bloomberg communicates with its audience through social, not just for feedback, but for actual contributions. “We’re constantly reaching out and asking for content from our consumers,” he said.

Watch the full interview below, and be sure to check out more of SiliconANGLE and theCUBE’s coverage of Enterprise Connect 2016.

Photo by SiliconANGLE