Idle Ramblings

Is someone watching what you're watching

This is a good column about the increasing pressure for the government to more closely regulate what we see and hear in the media. There was already plenty of pressure before to clamp down on the broadcast media, but now, there is a real danger that the chilling effect at least, if not the actual regulation, is moving toward cable and satellite as well. MTV is toning down its VMAs this year. There is discussion about whether cable shows such as Nip/Tuck, The Shield, Sopranos, Six Feet Under and other shows should be allowed.



If you add to it polls such as the one by the First Amendment Center which shows fourty percent of the public think the news media should be regulated by the government it starts getting kind of Big Brotherish.



Where does the problem lie? Is it in the eyes and ears of the viewing, listening and reading public? More than objections to material they find offensive, is the public reacting to the glut of new an information which is available to them today. Especially since, at least from the news standpoint, much of it is considered "negative." Is it that the media has become to overly invested in selling the public on conflict and controversy? Or is it something else? There seems to be a giant disconnect between the cries for increased regulation and the demand for increased sensationalism.



Or, are there forces out there playing the ends against the middle, doing everything they can to keep the populous atuned to what, in the scope of things, are trivial matters while the big picture matters go unnoticed.



These are the kinds of things that keep me up at night at least until I turn on the TV and pacify my brain with Comedy Central.

posted by Joseph @ 8/29/2004 08:05:00 PM