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Neil Postman

18C">Wealth, leisure and the attention economy in the 18C

June 19, 2008

A while back, Clay Shirky (Gin, Tele­vi­sion and Social Sur­plus) invoked 18C Eng­land in arguing that gin was the enabling — and stu­pefy­ing — tech­no­logy of rapid urb­an­isa­tion. Tele­vi­sion, he argued, played the same role in — pre­sum­ably, he doesn’t really elab­or­ate — the sub­urb­an­isa­tion of the US in the second half of the 20C. […]

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The Trust Obsession

April 28, 2008

CNN bills itself as the most trus­ted name in news. Director-General Mark Thompson reck­ons pub­lic trust is the life-blood of the BBC. Politi­cians and TV presenters wail and tear their clothes in pub­lic at the public’s loss of trust in the media. “Woe is us,” wails the col­lect­ive cry from the journ­al­ism pro­fes­sion, “they don’t […]

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