Many years ago, I hosted a call-in program on a New York City radio station. I called it "Connections."
Twenty-five years later, I see I was ahead of the curve. We live now in a tid-bitty world. And our news mediums get less coherent all the time.
A few weeks ago, for example, the USA Weekend insert in the Albuquerque Journal introduced a new page in which nutritionist Jean Carper, financial advisor Jean Chatzky and two or three other specialists offer consumer items. They're tightened to fit on one page! The same experts used to provide page-length contributions.
Newsweek went the same way a year ago, maybe longer, adding a section called Tip Sheet behind what magazines used to call "the back of the book." This section serves not only to retail tidbits but also to provide a a welcoming "environment" for advertisers. (I put environment in quotes so you know that is how marketing folks talk.)
All this explains - as we have remarked before - why there are so many political books on the market - they allow the authors room to make a full argument.
And it may also explain the new Michael Moore movie, Fahrenheit 911, which is a fulmination, I read, against the Bush Administration.
(Tangent: Tonight ABC TV News did a story on the Moore movie, with the reporter casting doubt on Moore's accuracy. To do so, he used sound bites from the former anti-terror chief, Richard Clarke.
I was amazed. I don't understand, first, where ABC gets the nerve to grade anybody else in journalism (or, in Moore's case, pure advocacy). Secondly, I'll bet my house that ABC never endorsed Clarke as an "authority" when he was undercutting the Bush Administration's Iraq policy. Now, however, they employ his credibility to knock down Moore. Of course, being respectful to the powerful and sceptical of the outsider is nothing new.)
But back to my thesis - I am happy we have these political books and movie,
as well as great sources of information and argument on the Internet.
But most Americans get their news from TV. So a lack of connections is the rule, coherence the exception.