We are in the process of creating what deserves to be called the idiot culture. Not an idiot sub-culture, which every society has ...bubbling beneath the surface and which can provide harmless fun; but the culture itself. For the first time, the weird and the stupid and the coarse are becoming our cultural norm, even our cultural ideal.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
The failures of the press have contributed immensely to the emergence of a talk-show nation, in which public discourse is reduced ...to ranting and raving and posturing. We now have a mainstream press whose news agenda is increasingly influenced by this netherworld.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
The greatest felony in the news business today is to be behind, or to miss a big story. So speed and quantity substitute for thoro...ughness and quality, for accuracy and context. The pressure to compete, the fear somebody else will make the splash first, creates a frenzied environment in which a blizzard of information is presented and serious questions may not be raised.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
The lowest form of popular culture--lack of information, misinformation, disinformation, and a contempt for the truth or the reali...ty of most people's lives--has overrun real journalism. Today, ordinary Americans are being stuffed with garbage.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »