What was that old line William S. Burroughs spouted in those old Nike ads, something about the purpose of technology not being to confuse the brain, but to serve the body? Well, NBC news anchor Brian Williams is worried that portability and on-demand technology might not be doing much for the brains of citizens at all, claiming it allows people to filter out the bad news that is also important in keeping us informed. Part of a journalist's job, he claims, is to provide a "civics lesson." So what do you guys think? Is being able to pick an choose the information we receive a good thing or not? I have a tendency to think people have always done this, but that now it's just more convenient.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
5-23-2006 @ 10:47AM
Tim UF said...
here's a list of the MOST POPULAR (ie most clicked on) stories on CNN... i wouldnt say they are all warm and fuzzy stories...
-'Dr. 90210' restrains passenger
-Bear escapes, mauls neighbor
-"24's" Bauer saves world, again
-Catholic group upset at Madonna
-Fannie Mae braces for report
-Bush snubs Gore's climate film
-Greek, Turkish fighter jets crash
-Barton avoids 'lame farewell'
-Louisiana tests hurricane plan
-Katrina autopsy: Police shot mentally disabled man in back
i tend to think that people gravitate towards the outrageous, moreso than the safe or 'good' news, thats why sensationalism [cough] Anderson Cooper [cough cough] is so prevalent in the news
Reply
5-23-2006 @ 11:49AM
Scott said...
I don't care to have General Electric give me a civics lesson.
Reply
5-23-2006 @ 12:31PM
Gig said...
Back in the day if you were watching TV at 6:30 in the evening odds were you were watching the news. Hence, people acctually watched the news.
Today with 250 channels it is just as easy to not watch the news at all as it is to watch the news whenever you want.
The problem is the people NEED a civics lesson of some sort even if GE is the organization giving it. The average american is really uninformed about two things, Politics and Economics.
Please note that NBC, ABC and CBS news is NEVER on the TiVo most recorded shows list.
Reply
5-23-2006 @ 4:30PM
Chris said...
Civics lesson? I would hardly call being spoon fed the news healthy. What you get from Williams and his crew is what they determine is newsworthy. That opens up too much chance for bias. The internet and mobile technology have given us increasing freedom to form our own opinions about the world.
Reply
6-04-2006 @ 12:42AM
Apres Ski said...
I don't have TiVo but I do have a VCR. I tape the news with Williams and then play back only the parts that I know are different than what I read on the internet.
I love the part of 'civics lessens'. We're all getting a civics lesson right now with Bush43 in office. Who needs the news? Can anyone find a job? buy a house? a car? right now?
People, we ARE the civics lesson!!
Reply