In his well written book, "The World is Flat" Thomas Friedman wrote on several principles that we are finding out today coming into fruition. (If you never read the book, it's on my top 50 books 'must read')
The situation of the crazy pastor wanting a 'burn a Koran day' illustrates one of the principles of Friedman. The internet age has enabled one chaotic principle: Open Source: Communities uploading and collaborating on online projects. Examples include open source software, blogs, and Wikipedia. Friedman considers the phenomenon "the most disruptive force of all".
Long ago, there was always a centrality of power and knowledge. Huge institutions or entities. For the military there was always one dominant force be it the Roman Empire or the United States with her seven fleets controlling the seas. That paradigm shifted with the internet creating smaller military powers: terrorists. The result of that is a by product of the internet giving the power of shared information.
Case in point: if you were Al Queda- you found a way to make a portable IED made of eight simple house hold products and you post it on the internet - guess how quickly you just empowered some terrorist in sandals somewhere in the Middle East.
Politically it's the same. The internet changed even geo-political power. YouTube can make or break a political career. Remember the recent incident of a black woman seen on YouTube video and was going to be fired because one extreme tea-party nut decided to post a partial video of her speech on racism? When Obama was elected there was a viral video of a girl singing a parody of her crush on the new Democratic candidate - it was a hit.
Before technology came along you had a political central organization - the press (newspapers and magazine) would only covered established voices of power. If Abraham Lincoln declared war it would be covered, but it would take a few weeks till it reach the West Coast, but as communications improve the news got out faster. However you still covered the recognized political voices - namely in the United States the major parties.
Then the internet comes along. Terry Jones' voice in the 1800's or 1700's would never make it past town. He'd probably be preaching in a barn and the news would just stay there with the cows.
The internet allows for a greater voice and message impact than ever and you don't even have to be that important. Yes, the internet allows information to be passed on in such a greater capacity so much so Terry Jones could LITERALLY change the geo-political atmosphere and impact even military strategies.
Frankly, the modern press of FoxNews to CNN shouldn't even cover this idiot in the first place because you give credence to it. Some radical Islamic would record that put it on YouTube and within hours it reaches Europe and Afghanistan. Then the Muslim community is an uproar in the Middle East. Our troops fighting there finds an anger that is misplaced because Jones doesn't represent me or the majority of America.
Do you see it?
Technology - the internet is probably the most disruptive force in our society. Responsibly used - you can try to send grandma's old tea cup set to a million eBay collectors today whereas in the 70's you would have to wait until someone read your 1"x2" classified ad in the middle of two thousand ads. Irresponsibly or maliciously used you write a virus and title it "Funniest Stunt Video gone wrong" and you infect a million computers and keep the IT department looking like Einstein.
Fact is: Terry Jones in the 1970 alone would have never made the news. Just like Lindsay Lohan.
Fact number two: it's becoming more and difficult for people to filter and critically think their way through a conclusion. Analyze Terry Jones just for a fact. He's a small time pastor on the fringe, and honestly does anyone thinks he represent America? Absolutely not. Yet, we've come to the point where the general in Afghanistan, the U.S. president, and even the Vatican has to respond to this!
Fact number three: thirdly, we live in a world where we find a population with less critical thinking than ever. Where have we become as a world when if you post one video it's fact? Or that it's not 'layered' meaning it could be a prank, a joke, taking out of context, or not 'entirely the whole story'?
The modern press itself reflects this inability to critically think. Covering the Terry Jones situation was irresponsible because ultimately it ruins our relationship in the Middle East, it places our troops in danger with the growing anger, it also wasted everyone's time and resources of commenting, "Terry Jones doesn't stand for America."
Now, finishing that I need to write some silly iPhone app, and see if I can get a million people to buy it and retire.