By John W. Baker, Memphis Flyer
Recently, I encountered the term "WPN" (for "what passes for news"). I'd like to propose a related term, "Nuzak." It's a functional description of how WPN fits into the life of the average Joe, who never reads a newspaper except for the sports section.
Nuzak is like Muzak. It runs in the background. It's a New York Times headline on the way out of the house. It's CNN at the airport. It's Fox News at home whileJoe is really doing something else. The purpose of Nuzak is to be mildly interesting and possibly entertaining without telling Joe anything that would disturb him personally. Real news has immediacy. It is "actionable intelligence," the last thing Joe is interested in. The average person basically wants to be left alone and to be told, town-crier fashion, that "All is well." Elevator news.
This does not mean that Nuzak can't be unpleasant, or that certain stories are off-limits because they are horrific, or gruesome, or disgusting. Nuzak can report all such things, but the important thing to Joe is that the events are someplace else, happening to someone else, that the personally is okay, and that there's nothing for him to be disturbed about.>>>>.snip
http://memphisflyer.com/content.asp?ArticleID=6&ID=7299
Printer-friendly format
Email this thread to a friend
Bookmark this thread
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
