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March 20, 2008

The Medium is the Message

Megan Garber has a few questions:

Why wasn’t the fuller picture of Wright—serviceman, intellectual, community organizer—part of the narrative that spread about him in the mass media? Why didn’t we in the press do a better job of fleshing out Wright as a full, complex person—with the mix of strengths and weaknesses that is in us all—rather than dismissing him as an empty amalgamation of incendiary sound bites? That more humanized picture of Wright wouldn’t have explained away his comments, but it would have, at least, started to explain them—and placed them in the proper human context. It would have rooted them in the complexity of the African-American experience, rather than letting them hover, disembodied, in the ether of the cable news cycle.

The answers are not simple, but they start with Marshall McLuhan. Television is a medium of a certain kind. Therefore journalistic messages relayed by that medium must be of a certain kind. Depth, context, and nuance are not a part of the visual-emotional mix necessary for "good" television.

I think Wright's comments are a legitimate concern. As are those of Rod Parsley, the man John McCain has called a "spiritual guide." Perhaps the press also ought to look at the ideas and qualities of these men that might command the respect of Obama and McCain. I have no idea what there might be to respect--if anything--because all we get are the emotional loops.

If we are to get this fuller look a print journalist will have to give it to us.



Posted by acline at March 20, 2008 10:46 AM | | Spotlight