Postman's Amusing Ourselves to Death

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Amusing Ourselves to Death; Mediums, Friend or Foe?

Electronic media is inferior to print media due to the fact that electronic media can be bias, selective, and evasive for the purpose of entertainment. Electronic media serves as a form of entertainment with a main goal of serving their ratings rather than serving the people. It would seem that Postman would agree with this theory since he describes electronic media as a form of entertainment rather than a reliable source of information and facts in his book Amusing Ourselves to Death.

Let’s start by taking a look at the bias side of electronic media. Take for instance the difference between Fox News and CBS. Both are news stations, both are intended to bring us the news, yet the way in which each station presents its stories to their viewers could not be more different. Few would argue the fact that Fox news appeals to the conservative audience while a station such as CBS would tend to be more liberal. This creates bias. To illustrate my point, let us take a look at how these 2 news stations covered the very same story in completely different ways.

Fox News, with their conservative bias, continuously eluded, during the coverage of the Chandra Levy case, that Gary Condit played some role in Chandra’s disappearance. In many numerous televised announcements and news articles released since the day that Chandra was declared missing, Fox News repeatedly kept referring to Condit for more information (Fox News' Kelly O. Beaucar, foxnews.com 5/23/01). And also Fox had turned to the public to get their interaction with the media in numerous polls such as: Most Believe Condit Hasn’t Come Clean. Condit Constituents Split Their Judgment. Condit's Acting Guilty (Dana Blanton, Fox News 7/07/01).

CBS, on the other hand, did not focus on the possibility of Condit’s role in Chandra’s disappearance. In fact, Dan Rather did not extensively cover the Chandra case until after 63 days since she first went missing. This is what the report stated:

RATHER:There is news tonight worthy of national note in the case of missing person 24-year-old intern Chandra Levy. The young woman disappeared in Washington more than 11 weeks ago and became one of tens of thousands of missing personas across the country. CBS News correspondent Jim Stewart reports on both the status and nature of this widely publicized investigation have...

... middle of paper ...

...have interruptions almost every five minutes? It is because we have adopted the idea that this is how it is supposed to be. During the Condit trial just about all news stations were focusing their cameras on Gary Condit and the Levy Family, until September 11, 2001 when two planes struck the World Trade Center. Once this had happened all eyes were focused on the chaos of the destruction that was created while Condit and the Levy family had a break from the Media.

Taking these three points that I have discussed thus far, it is no wonder why I feel that print media is a far better source of obtaining accurate information. It is difficult to find glitter and flash on paper, therefore the meat must come from the facts. Unlike electronic media, with all their flash and glitter, whose focus is to find something that, the public would enjoy watching so that they can achieve their goals of ratings and profit. Because “…There’s No Business, But Show Business” (Postman, 98)

Works Cited

Postman, Neil. Amusing Ourselves to Death. New York. Penguin, 1985.

Rather, Dan. Gary Condit & The Press . 2001. 3 Sept. 2003.

Homicide Investigation – Chandra Ann Levy . May 2001. 3 Sept. 2003

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