We live in an age of Big Media and it’s only going to get more so. Our news is dominated by Big TV, Big Radio (check out XM/Sirius, nationwide radio!), and Big Internet. To get Big, media needs a big audience, and while the biggest audience of all is “the entire world”, the next biggest would be the US national audience. So that’s the business logic that leads to Big Media. What are the effects?
Precisely, Big Media has the glitter, the glamour, the sizzle, more attractive people and voices, better production values. In our age, in which entertainment has replaced education, the result is sad but predictable: Big Media trumps local media. So the national message overruns the local message. People know about what they hear about, so the national events, and actors, submerge local events and actors.
The danger in all this is that it draws those who do care away from what matters (state & local) and toward what is, by design and intent, (the federal) supposed to have minimal impact on the individual citizen. The problem here is that the federal government cannot solve local, or even state problems. So Big Media is serving up a knuckleball, a floating, basketball-sized target that looks totally hitable, but that takes a dive for the dirt once we start our swing. We can petition the federal government for solutions to the problems we see, but the federal government will frustrate and disappoint every time.
At this point in history, it’s almost pointless to encourage consumption of local media. It’s hopeless to discourage consumption of Big Media. Local media has been on an accelerating downward curve for decades. Today, in many communities, and especially in many of the most troubled communities, it’s almost impossible to find legitimate, active, compelling local media. So with Big Media having crushed and dominated local media, national issues overwhelm local issues, and the frustration with government continues to build as the federal government continues its inevitable descent toward utter ineffectualness.
If you have local media, you should treasure it and support it. There is good local media, and one of the very best is the Anderson Valley Advertiser. If you have local media worth supporting, and if you let me know, I’ll mention them here. This blog isn’t Big Media, yet, but in local affairs, every voice counts.
G’day all, and may God continue to bless America!
Tags: anderson valley advertiser, federal, glamor, local, media, money, politics, state, theava
Another “Gotta agree with you.”
My blog today is similar, “Remember to vote in your local elections; they’re important too.”