attention or not has been around and behaving that way long before Television, we know that their is a chicken and egg effect that happens with media. Show me less and I know less. Show me less and I have less interest because I don't see it. Survey me to find out what I see as important it will be far less likely that I will mention something I don't see or hear.
Top 40 radio redux. What's on the playlist? What is selling in the record store. What is selling in the record store? What is played on the Top 40 radio.
I can remember people being unable to tell me much about Vietnam but they knew about the campus protests because they saw a photo in the newspaper. During the decline of papers/news reporting in the late '80's/early'90's there were still great papers doing great work covering a range of things and doing award winning investigative and feature work. The Plain Dealer in Cleveland, the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The Minneapolis Star-Tribune, The Louisville Courier-Journal, The Seattle Post-Intelligencer, The Kansas City Star, The Dallas Morning News, The Chicago Tribune, The Detroit Free Press, The Des Moines Register, The Baltimore Sun and so many more I couldn't wait to read as I traveled the country. Some are still good but I don't travel much any more.
My point is these papers did/some still do great work and cover and investigate major things in our daily lives. They know that many ignore it or want to shut the world out at the end of the day but they also know that there are people like me and millions of others who do care, care to learn, care to get information to inform our opinions and do not consider it a "news" paper if the bulk of it is filled with display ads, recipes for potato salad, a review of a hot dog stand and the sports scores.
= new reply since forum marked as read
