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In 2003, I had grown so sick of screaming at my television that I decided to re-introduce some peace and quiet into my life. I made the call, and dropped cable. There were many reasons, ultimately, but the two primary reasons were 'news' and commercials.
I'll start with commercials: -- Here's an telling bit of data: I bought the 'Night Stalker' series, as Kolchak was one my favorite characters from that era. These were hour long programs. The average run time on each episode is 53 to 54 minutes. That means that there were 6 or 7 minutes worth of commercials back in 1974.
Now take a more recent series, like the X-Files. Also an hour program, but the run times are 41-42 minutes, which means that in the late 90's you were now getting 18 or 19 minutes of commercials.
I personally find commercials wildly annoying and invasive, so it was with great glee that I cast them out of my house. When I watch an X-Files now (on DVD) it takes 42 minutes. That means I've reclaimed 18 minutes of my life, and spend far less time being annoyed.
-- And then there's the 'news'. Ah, yes. Here was my Number One reason to drop cable.
Disclaimer: I am a news junkie. It was something I picked up when while I was a journalism major, or perhaps because of it. In any case, I read many articles each day. I love the Internet for that, but I digress.
The state of broadcast journalism has been in steady decline for decades. Watch the movie "Broadcast News" some time. Holly Hunter's character, Jane, is an 'old school' editor who is horrified at what she (correctly) sees as migration towards news as entertainment. The response from her colleagues is cool, at best. I find this observation spot on, and ahead of it's time.
Broadcast journalism, once a respectable field, has become tabloid media. Infotainment has been the meme, although I believe that using the prefix 'info' lends too much credibility. Propatainment, perhaps, would be more appropriate.
Collectively speaking, we have given up all pretense of honest debate. Thanks to the ever-present din that is broadcast news, not only does no real news ever cross the airwaves, but no real discussion of issues. So-called 'debates' are tightly framed and never cross the boundaries of the accepted narrative.
The result of this cacophony is an actual deterioration of the deep structure of language. By this, I mean that having intelligent conversation is becoming increasingly difficult, if not impossible.
Today the news will be slathered with remembrances and tributes to an event that occurred on this day. There will be very little actually substance in these endless hours or reporting. There will be little to no debate on the many questions that remain unanswered. There will be much historical revision, as the myth continues to solidify in the collective psyche.
And it's sad, because the Real Truth will probably never be known, thanks in large part to Broadcast News, the enablers of the Decline and Fall of America.
Thanks for listening.
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