Turn off the Tube...

Sit down, shut up, flip on, zone out -

Mixing journalism and entertainment is good business for media executives but it's a disaster for everyone else.

One of the most fundamental principles of our experiment in Democracy is the need for aggressive journalism.  I say again not news, but journalism.  Missing the latest news cycle is not a dereliction of civic duty.  Our elected representatives have the writ to conduct the policy process on our behalf so we can focus on day to day management of our lives and similarly we place our trust in a fourth estate to critically analyze and persistently engage with that process on our behalf.  As citizens it is unreasonable to expect a real depth of understanding of all the issues.  We rely on journalists and academics to give us the highlights and identify issues where they are found while we raise families, build careers, and enjoy life.  It is a wonderful arrangement.  But it is out of balance.  The replacement of engaged journalism with infotainment media companies is strangling the informational lifeblood of our democracy. This is both shrill and increasingly real.   I see this as a struggle for the mind and soul of a country who takes for granted the perpetuity of our democracy. 

We're losing touch with reality.  Stern voices and bombastic intro music does not a fourth estate make.  Cable news is not guiding an informed public toward a more durable liberty.  The corpse of Cronkite's gravitas has been embalmed and fed back to us in the form of sleek media monetization vehicles, under the cloak of news, to the detriment of actually informing a polity.  Media companies have perfected the salty-sweet combination of uncertainty, discord and fluff to drive up viewership.  The method is not a mystery.  Differentiated only by gimmicks, hologram anchors and talking head people, we all recognize the sleek formula, tried and true.  All they have to do is keep you stupid, hungry, scared and tuned and they make money.  Why do we play along?

Great reporting is about great information.  It is complex, it is dense, and it is often very boring.  It does not seek you out in an elevator or an airport lounge.  You have to meet great journalism halfway.  It takes work,  but the alternative is far worse.  There are no sound bites to sum up our recent economic subversion or a montage to demystify our descent into a decade of war.

Stop sleepily, habitually grazing on garbage infotainment.  Look beyond the merchandized smoke screen of fear mongering and celebrity.  Find news, don't just be entertained.

It is time for a return to sanity.  Turn off the tube.


You have options...
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/money-power-wall-street/
http://cironline.org/
http://www.pulitzer.org/