GREY MATTER: Media Brainwash
[Originally published: Issue #5, circa 1988]
After reading Alexandr Solzehnitzky's A World Split Apart, I now, more than ever, strongly believe that the American media is dominated by trends. When I say media, I mean newspapers, news telecasts, information magazines, etc. From week to week, a new "news fad" will become the nation's foremost concern and will be plastered all over newspapers, Time, and Newsweek, and you will find all news programs concentrating on it. This lasts until the next fad hits, and the old one is nearly forgotten. For example, a year ago people were screaming about AIDS so much that it seemed that a plague of biblical (sorry atheists!) proportions was upon us. Shortly thereafter, the media turned its attention to teenage drug use {"Just Say No"), sex scandals, (Hart and Rice, Bakker and Hahn), and other things. From the decrease in the reporting/mentioning of AIDS, you'd think that the problem ceased to exist. But did it? (The answer is no, for those of you scoring at home.) If anything, the problem got worse, but it didn't matter because America's "news audience” (people who buy newspapers, watch the news on TV, etc.) was bored and need something new and exciting to be "most concerned” about. The only tine a single issue should dominate the media is in the case of a one-time happening or current event (for example, an earthquake, etc.).
