2. Today the news media is driven by sound bytes, not real, hard hitting stories

I had this media revelation when we dissected the second half of the postman book as a class. In the chapter “Now…This” Postman breaks down the way in which we are feed the news. A personal example of this that I recently noticed is the news ticker that is constantly flowing on the bottom of CNN. The blurbs of news are constant and make for perfect sound bytes. They offer no background, no links to more information; they are just simple, catchy news headlines.
Postman addresses the issue of this type of shallow news coverage when he talks about the Iranian Hostage Crisis. (Pg 107) Postman talks about how Americans were fascinated with the news coverage surrounding the crisis, but the majority of American’s had no idea about the background of the crisis, despite the almost constant news coverage. As Postman says, it was assumed that American’s knew the crisis was a dangerous and unhappy event, but the majority of the population had no idea about the culture or the people of Iran. Despite this lack of knowledge everyone had an opinion on the conflict and how it should be handled.
A similar situation in the present day media is the war in Iraq and Afghanistan. Everyone has an opinion on the topic and the majority of the population has no idea about the background of the conflict or the region of the world. This lack of in-depth media coverage is similar to the news reporting that takes place in Feed. While the feed keeps Titus and his friends sustained are sustained by the information provided by their feeds, but are unable to dig deeper into issues because of the feed. It is twisted that the feed, which makes their lives possible is also the force that is limiting their understanding of the issues facing their world. (I feel like this is an overarching theme throughout the book, so it’s hard to narrow it down to one page number)
I selected this video because it showed some of the worst journalistic techniques used in the media today. Techniques in this clip are the very same techniques that Postman is so critical of in “Now… This” These techniques lead to sound byte journalism and the same shallow reporting that breeds a culture that doesn’t look into anything beyond the surface.
I couldn’t help but laugh at this clip, hiding behind obscure phrasing, this clip really echoes this media revelation. In today’s world of news media there is only enough time for sound bytes and hired consultants. (Note the station, bottom left of the screen.)