|
|
| INFORMATION JUNGLE Managing the Information Explosion January 31, 1997 |
|---|
Questions asked
in this forum:
Should Internet users expect to pay for information in the future? Should the government provide Internet access? With so much information on the Internet, how can one avoid Web Trash? What does the Internet mean for those living in remote places? Can a "common culture" exist in the age of New Media? What skills do children need to learn to be media literate? Viewer comments regarding New Media.
NewsHour Backgrounders
December 30, 1996: Will information traffic jams increase in cyberspace?
December 25, 1996: The NewsHour reviews the Year in Cyberspace.
Browse the Online NewsHour's coverage of cyberspace.
The 90's is the decade of the "new media;" the era of the call-in talk show, MTV News, CNN, Hard Copy, and, of course, the Internet. The old, distinguished pillars of American journalism, such as the New York Times, CBS and Time, now have to compete with thousands of other voices for the attention and time of the reading, viewing and surfing public. Critics of these new voices say that these new arrivals to the mediasphere are winning not with quality work but by playing to the lowest common denominators of sex, violence and scandal and that the New Media have given rise to a New Culture that mock the traditional values of Old. Are New Media's critics missing the point of the communications revolution? Jon Katz, Wired's media critic, thinks so and argues as such in his new book "Virtuous Reality: How America Surrendered Discussion of Moral Values to Opportunists, Nitwits & Blockheads like William Bennett."
Katz believes the real story behind the rise of the New Media is how power has shifted from the few how once controlled the nation's major broadcast networks and newspapers to the media consumers. Now, instead of only a few choices, a person has can now assemble a media portfolio containing newspapers, magazines, TV shows, e-mail newsletters, Web sites, radio shows, email listservs, CD-ROMs and a host of other media options that meets their needs and interests. The battle between Old Media vs. New Media is a false battle; the real question is how people fit the new choices into their lives in a meaningful way.
Our forum asks: How should an educated consumer approach this information-rich era? Do all these choices add up to a cacophony of information, or does the explosion in media choices allow for more understanding in these complicated times? Can America have a common dialogue when there is no common information?
Your answers will be answered by Jon Katz, media critic for Hotwired and Wired. He has written for The New York Times, Rolling Stone, New York and other magazines and has been a reporter and editor at The Boston Globe, The Washington Post, The Philadelphia Inquirer and the Dallas Morning-News.
Questions asked
in this forum:
Should Internet users expect to pay for information in the future? Should the government provide Internet access? With so much information on the Internet, how can one avoid Web Trash? What does the Internet mean for those living in remote places? Can a "common culture" exist in the age of New Media? What skills do children need to learn to be media literate? Viewer comments regarding New Media.
Support the kind of journalism done by the NewsHour...Become a member of your local PBS station. PBS Online Privacy Policy
Copyright ©1996- MacNeil/Lehrer Productions. All Rights Reserved.
