The Noise of Entertainmentization

The generation who grew up with MTV is seeing the increased entertainmentization of news and information. The recent presidential debates, with 30-second or 60-second answer periods, set against a blazing backdrop of stylized American flags, is made to feel more like Price is Right than a serious discussion of leadership. Cable channels like CNBC cover what should be boring financial statistics with the heart pounding excitement of March Madness. It’s as if the Tivo and YouTube phenomenon – whereby we can watch what we want when we want – has caused purveyors of content to channel vaudeville or P.T. Barnum in seeking a scintilla of our attention. Instead of capturing our interest, though, this tragic quest for our love makes filtering the worthwhile from the “noise” too tiresome a task, causing us to just consider it all “noise.” We tune out – as they used say when there were such things as tuners – and visit a candidate’s website to watch a video of his recent speech, or go to askaninja.com for some laughs. Back to the primary source.