Tuesday, August 08, 2006

Breaking News!....Idiots run media!..Shock Horror!

It's been a big week for media mistakes. Reuters have admitted to running a couple of doctored photos, questions have been raised about which bomb hit where and when, a journalist falls for the Jesse Macbeth hoax and then of course we still have the usual mistakes. Too numerous to mention.
The media has always been a breeding ground for stupidity. But it is getting worse every day. Newspapers around the globe have become insipid rags. "News" has become quick snippets of what is most exciting, accurate information has been pushed aside for an increase in celebrity news.
TV is going even worse. Despite the technological leap of the past few years, the quality of information has lumbered to a dead stop. As for Radio...well I just won't go there. Two words. Brain Dead.
Why has this happened?
You would think that with the advent of the internet, information gathering would be going through a Golden Age. But one thing I have noticed is the increase in homogeneous products in the media.
A formulae Radio or TV program in London for instance, would be formatted the same in Sydney or L.A.
Newspaper structures have slowly evolved into clones of International papers. As the disease of "homogeneous" media spreads, so does complacency and blandness. Local "feel" is pushed out and we are left with crap.
The media seems to be "dumbing down" for their audience. The problem is that the audience has caught up and the media doesn't know how to "smarten up".

A song once delivered this line "television: the drug of a nation."
It seems the drug has lost it's power.

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