“Network news accustoms audiences to assertion not argument. Over time, it reinforces the notion that politics is about visceral identification and apposition, not complex problems and their solutions. ... sound bites aren't very helpful. They can tell a voter what a candidate believes, but not why. And many issues are too complex to be freeze dried into a slogan and a smile. ... What's lost in a world in which everything's an ad? Perhaps the country that created the assembly line has simply found a more efficient way to do politics.” WorldWayBelieveCountryProblemFoundPoliticsLostSoundLinesAudienceIssuesNewsSolutionsArgumentComplexesNotionCandidatesHelpfulVotersBitesAdsEfficientSlogansAssemblyAssertionFreezeIdentificationVisceralSound BitesAssembly LineComplex Problems Author:Kathleen Hall Jamieson
“Today, the mass audience (the successor to the "public") can be used as a creative, participating force. It is, instead, merely given packages of passive entertainment. Politics offers yesterday's answers to today's questions.” TodayUsedPoliticsGivenForceAnswersAudienceCreativeOffersMassEntertainmentYesterdayPassivePackagesParticipatingSuccessors Book:The medium is the massage: an inventory of effects Source: The medium is the massage: an inventory of effects
“Whenever you pray, make sure you do it at school assemblies and football games, like the demonstrative creatures who pray before large television audiences. That is the real goal of the thing. But do not, I urge you, pray all alone in your home where no one can see. That does not get you ratings.” DoeRealHomeSchoolReligionGamesPoliticsGoalPrayerAudienceTelevisionFootballPrayingCreaturesUrgesAssemblyRatingAll AloneFootball Game Author:Garry Wills