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TV Guide
“Our history will be what we make it. And if there are any historians about fifty or a hundred years from now, and there should be preserved the kinescopes for one week of all three networks, they will there find recorded in black and white, or color, evidence of decadence, escapism and insulation from the realities of the world in which we live. I invite your attention to the television schedules of all networks between the hours of 8 and 11 p.m., Eastern Time. Here you will find only fleeting and spasmodic reference to the fact that this nation is in mortal danger. . . . [D]uring the daily peak viewing periods, television in the main insulates us from the realities of the world in which we live.”
—Edward R. Murrow (1900-1965), legendary newsman, in speech to the Radio-Television News Directors Assn.,
Oct. 15, 1958
Oct. 15, 1958
Boy howdy, and Murrow way back then hadn't seen nothin' yet when it comes to degrading, insulting, anesthetizing, stupefying primetime "entertainment". Even FauxNews is better (ow, it hurt to say that)...
ReplyDeleteHeya Mr Pease - I'm totally ditto with most of what you offer, but that leads to the next question -
ReplyDeletewe know what the problem is, we've named it, poked it inside and out, complained loud and long, but....
What are we going to do about it????
What are you and me and other practitioners, academics, newsroom editors, reporters going to do about it?....
Change aint gonna come from the top...
So, who does that leave the responsibility to?
Namaste
Dear Sahila:
ReplyDeleteDamn good question. We each try to brighten the corner where we are, but that's not much in terms of your handle--mega change-bringingwise.
Ted
"Leave your campsite better than you found it." --Girl Scout motto (and good words to live by!)
I'm into leaving things better than I found them (but who's to judge that, then, eh?), but I also like group change - much more effective (and faster!) if a bunch of like-minded people all move in the same direction at the same tide - a veritable force of nature, like a tidal wave - oops, bad analogy maybe, but then again, maybe not - regrowth always comes out of nature's spectacular assertion of herself, and some seeds need forest fires to germinate - wow - lots of mixed metaphors...
ReplyDeleteBut then again, have been forced to recognise (though not necessarily accept!)that humans are not very willing or skilled at acting in concert - a bit like herding cats...
And, thinking aloud, perhaps journalists have more of the rebel gene in them than others...all the ones I know certainly disagree with a lot (and maybe enjoy that)...maybe that's why its hard for us to come together, come up with some strategies to effect change, agree to act and then follow-through....
Or maybe, we choose to be journalists because we're afraid of committing to something, we're stuck in ambivalence - we'd rather sit on the sidelines and comment/report, than get into the mud with everyone else???
I dont know - just spouting drivel on a Tuesday afternoon when I ought to be attending to other issues in my version of reality....
Ciao