George Will has turned squishy in recent years … but he has recently hit on an important observation ... covering Marshall McLuhan (hot and cool media) in a column in the WaPo (behind a paywall). I have not read this column but I did hear an extensive review of Will’s column on talk radio … and I found it revealing.
Basically, George Will opines that the trough where Americans consume their news has changed from “cool” dead-tree newsprint to the red-hot internet … and the characteristics of these media outlets has changed our social intercourse dramatically.
When we get our news online, generally the news outlets generate more revenue per news story or opinion piece based on the number of “eyeballs” and clicks it captures. This incents the provider to sensationalize these items with fake news or questionable opinion.
QED … the internet is a much hotter media outlet than newspapers and magazines … and its temperature increase is reflected in our overheated society.
Thanks for the insight, George. I’m sure you expressed it much better than I did here.
(And, since I don’t generate any revenue from this blog, I must be Fonzi cool.)
STAND UP TO FAKE NEWS!
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