Cut Cables

[Joshua Zeidner]

 a great clip re. this topic:  http://youtube.com/watch?v=6VdNcCcweL0

  -jmz


On 2/5/08, Joshua Zeidner <jjzeidner at gmail.com> wrote:
> On 2/5/08, Alan Dayley <alandd at consultpros.com> wrote:
> > Joshua Zeidner wrote:
> > > On 2/5/08, Charles Jones <charles.jones at ciscolearning.org> wrote:
> > >> Personally I find it interesting that Britney Spears doctor visits make
> > >> headline news, but not a peep from "the media" about the apparent
> > >> deliberate cutoff of entire countries communications.
> > >
> > >
> > >   yes, that's what happens when you've got an ass for a chairman of the FCC.
> >
> > I don't see a connection here.  Certainly not a direct one, anyway.
> >
> > How does the performance of the FCC chairman effect what news stories do
> > or don't get reported?
>
>  Alan,
>
>    unfortunately, not too many 'tech guys' understand the Media biz
> all too well.  I'll try to put this into concise terms here:
>
>    consolidation = 'information richness'--.
>
>    in other words, if media is owned by few- then obviously the
> overall choices are diminished.  The basis of our information then
> takes on a less diverse character, and typically in order to maintain
> this situation, the 'illusion of news' needs to be propagated.  So we
> fill the viewers heads will all sorts of useless topics like Britany
> Spears, etc. because we have to report *something* [1] and we employ
> people with nice haircuts and terse voices to give the illusion of
> importance,  because without some kind of information to fill our
> heads, we will have the feeling that we are being uninformed, in which
> case the program has no or an opposite effect.  The last failsafe is
> to prevent the 'media consumer' from essentially smashing their TV
> set.
>
>   Martin @ FCC has persued a consistent policy of promoting
> monopolization of the media, often in direct opposition to public
> protest.  Specifically Martin's treatment of the newspaper medium will
> have a drastic effect.
>
>   For a background in these topics I recommend reading Walter Lippman.
>
>   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_Lippmann
>
>   Also Dan Gillmor is somewhat of a figure in this realm.  He now
> works at ASU.
>
>   http://www.dangillmor.com/
>
>  -jmz
>
>
>
>  [1] And appealing to your reproductive instincts is perhaps the most
> effective way to provide this stimulus.
>
>
>
>
> --
>


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