Spring Break
Media continues to undermine our conciousness
Rami Abdoch and Dean Galaro
Issue date: 11/5/08 Section: Opinion
Turn on the television and observe the avalanche of coverage the presidential race has produced. News channels cover their every move and word 24 hours a day and campaign ads show up during every commercial break. Listen to the radio and you get to hear discussion about more of the same, followed by ads that contain more of the same. Even the internet is not safe, with banners for both candidates covering websites and the blogosphere run amuck with thousands of opinions about the election every second.
Over the past two years the race for the Oval Office has been chewed up, spit out, and put under the microscope from every direction; but what do we have to show for it, other than some moderately funny SNL skits? We are firmly planted in the age of information, a time when there is almost no escape from the data stream and nothing stopping us from finding it. The presidential race that is coming to a rapid close has made use of this, but at what cost?
Mass media (propaganda) is everywhere, whether it is on the television or the computer or the signs in front yards that line the streets. There is no shortage of it, and it is due to the fact that a run for president means a candidate must get as much face time as possible. For the 2008 presidential cycle, the combined amount of money spent on media has totaled $418 million for all candidates (broadcast, print, internet, and miscellaneous media). This portion of expenditures is second only to administrative costs, with both accounting for around two-thirds of all money spent this presidential cycle. Clearly it is essential for someone running for president to spend exorbitant amounts of money getting their message to the people; but why?
In the 1960's, sociologist Marshall McLuhan wrote extensively about the effects of mass media on society in the early days of television. He famously observed that "it is the medium that shapes and controls the scale and form of human association and action," meaning that media has become both the end and the means. People put less value in what is being said and more value into the fact that it is being said; it's an issue of quantity instead of quality.
Over the past two years the race for the Oval Office has been chewed up, spit out, and put under the microscope from every direction; but what do we have to show for it, other than some moderately funny SNL skits? We are firmly planted in the age of information, a time when there is almost no escape from the data stream and nothing stopping us from finding it. The presidential race that is coming to a rapid close has made use of this, but at what cost?
Mass media (propaganda) is everywhere, whether it is on the television or the computer or the signs in front yards that line the streets. There is no shortage of it, and it is due to the fact that a run for president means a candidate must get as much face time as possible. For the 2008 presidential cycle, the combined amount of money spent on media has totaled $418 million for all candidates (broadcast, print, internet, and miscellaneous media). This portion of expenditures is second only to administrative costs, with both accounting for around two-thirds of all money spent this presidential cycle. Clearly it is essential for someone running for president to spend exorbitant amounts of money getting their message to the people; but why?
In the 1960's, sociologist Marshall McLuhan wrote extensively about the effects of mass media on society in the early days of television. He famously observed that "it is the medium that shapes and controls the scale and form of human association and action," meaning that media has become both the end and the means. People put less value in what is being said and more value into the fact that it is being said; it's an issue of quantity instead of quality.
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Amazon Herbs
posted 11/05/08 @ 1:52 AM CST
You are right. People do not bother to learn the specifics. They just go by what they here from the media. That has become people's reality of the world. (Continued…)
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