Tara Henley interviews Sue Gardner, a former CBC executive who now writes on the problems of media.
Gardner hits the usual well-known issues about the failure and mistrust of media, which is an international problem. She adds one point I haven’t heard before.
There have always been people who pay more attention to news and people who pay less attention. In the days of three-channel TV and two-newspaper cities, it was a lot harder to pay ZERO attention because everyone got “ambient contact” with news. You’d watch Gunsmoke on TV then catch part of Uncle Walter’s news. You’d pick up a newspaper that happened to be laying around in the laundry or the company break room.
Now it’s possible to avoid all contact with mass media. I’ve been doing it for 10 years, mostly living in a pre-1920 world. Gardner mentions that many people are deeply immersed in videogaming, which is non-topical and often centered in fairly accurate ancient history.
Polistra's Mill 