From: CLM To: "Jared Andrew Housh (E-mail)" Subject: FW: Headspace Hey Jared: I tweekt this a little so I don't sound like the professional writer with no verbal skills. I also attached a picture of Sprewell. Back to calming down Waggner-Edstrom and Co. (M$ PR agency)! > I figure its my duty as a professional media whatever to comment on the > media saturation essay on today's Headspace . The danger of media > saturation, from my point of view, is that, with the abundance of media, > people will become increasingly pedantic, focusing their attention to a > single interest or pet cause. Even though I work for a magazine and about > half of my coworkers have formal journalism training, I am the only person > I know that faithfully reads the newspaper every day - every one else I > know seems to turn to the Web or television for news, if they even care > about "general assignment" reporting at all. > > With the narrowcasting of the web in particular, it seems very easy for > people to zoom in on, say, sports, to the exclusion of all other > information. It seems like twenty or thirty years ago, if you wanted in > depth information about sports, you would pick up a daily paper and read > the sports section, but you would be much more inclined to dawdle on the > front page or the business section than today, when you would just go to > another sports site. > > I'm not picking on sports - people with an interest in computers or > business or entertainment or whatever are equally guilty. I'm sure you > know people whose media diet consists exclusively of computer > information. > > This is proabably just human nature - I mean, if you go to New York (or > even a mall) and you walk around, if you're say interested in buying > records and chinese food the thing you notice are record stores and > chinese restaurants - women's career wear outlets are not going to > attract your attention - you might not even realize they were there. Also, > if you don't have the context to appreciate women's career wear, there > might be little to distinguish one store from another. In my class on > Rhetoric, Orality and Video, the professor called this phenomenon a > "surplus of texts;" if you walk around New York, there's too much > information jumping at you to understand it all. (Conversely, why do art > museums and galleries have plain white walls?) > > Probably the most pernicious affect of media saturation is in political > reporting - I have to believe that the way politics is reported in this > country and the constant erosion of citizen interest constitutes a vicious > cycle: people are becoming less and less interested in politics, so > political reporting is becoming more and more targeted toward people with > intense interests in politics - the news focuses on Gore or Bush's > strategies for winning, rather than the issues they intend to addess as > leader, so people tune out and become even less interested in politics, > which reduces the incentive for the media to report in a way that is > meaningful to audience who want to make informed voting decisions, not get > the low down on a candidate's political tactics. 
> That said, the Knicks home opener is tonight! Go Sprewell! > > >"Grabasses bad!" > Is that a Mr. Bachman reference? > > Yer friend, > CLM
> That said, the Knicks home opener is tonight! Go Sprewell! > > >"Grabasses bad!" > Is that a Mr. Bachman reference? > > Yer friend, > CLM