Zuckerberg's testimony before Congress has the makings of riveting televised political drama
Mark Zuckerberg's testimony before Congress this week has the incendiary ingredients for compelling political theater: an arrogant high-tech billionaire facing off with grandstanding lawmakers at a moment when Americans are increasingly anxious about protecting their privacy from Russian trolls and Facebook algorithms.
The showdown makes for a TV spectacle similar to last year's testimony by former FBI Director James B. Comey, which was watched by 19.5 million viewers and followed by millions more online. Unlike congressional hearings of decades past, such as Watergate, which were broadcast by a small universe of three networks, Zuckerberg's appearance will play across a splintered media landscape that includes streaming, Twitter, YouTube and cable channels such as CNN.
Perhaps more than anyone else, the 33-year-old Zuckerberg, whose fortune is estimated at more than $63 billion, personifies how technology has reinvented how we get our news and communicate in
