The Political Orphanage Amusing Ourselves to Death
Dec 8, 2021
Neil Postman, an author who questioned the effects of television and infotainment on politics and culture, discusses his book 'Amusing Ourselves to Death' with the guests. They explore the impact of television on shaping messages, the disruptive nature of technology, adapting to an era of infinite information, and the loss of grace in personal interactions.
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Goldwater Funeral
- The media hounded Barry Goldwater at his mother-in-law's funeral after Kennedy's assassination.
- They then criticized him for politicizing the event.
Gatekeepers
- The death of gatekeepers in media has pros and cons.
- It prevents centralized control but also removes the pretext of truth-seeking.
Journalistic Ethics
- The old media had a journalistic ethic of fact-checking and retractions.
- This ethic is absent in the current age of individual news dissemination on social media.