Bill Moyers: Big Money, Big Media, Big Trouble
http://vimeo.com/41127822
from Moyers & Company:
Marty Kaplan on Big Moneys Effect on Big Media
April 27, 2012
Big money and big media have coupled to create a Disney World of democracy in which TV shows, televised debates, even news coverage is being dumbed down, just as the volume is being turned up. The result is a public certainly more entertained, but less informed and personally involved than they should be, says Marty Kaplan, director of USCs Norman Lear Center and an entertainment industry veteran. Bill Moyers talks with Kaplan about how taking news out of the journalism box and placing it in the entertainment box is hurting democracy and allowing special interest groups to manipulate the system.
Its all about combat. If every political issue is [represented by] combat between two polarized sides, then you get great television because people are throwing food at each other, Kaplan tells Moyers. And you have an audience that hasnt a clue at the end of the story, which is why youll hear, Well, well have to leave it there.
The problem is that theres not that much information out there if youre an ordinary citizen. You can ferret it out, but it ought not be like that in a democracy, Kaplan says. Education and journalism were supposed to, according to our founders, inform our public and make democracy work.