tand to have a rational thought alone, without outside stimulation, for more than a minute or so. He sees in this trend the destruction of democratic society, and he feels that television has always been part of this trend: "Television, as I have implied earlier, serves us most usefully when presenting junk-entertainment; it serves us most ill when it co-opts serious modes of discourse--news, politics, science, education, commerce, religion--and turns them into entertainment packages." This is precisely what tabloid television has done. Pseudo-news shows replace real news shows; pseudo-documentaries replace real documentaries; and the shouting of Morton Downey Jr. or the confrontational tactics of Geraldo Rivera replace reasoned discourse and analysis.
Todd Gitlin is another television critic who sees dangers in these trends, noting that he and many other critics have noticed that the genres of television are blurring and even collapsing:
The news turns to theme songs, coming attractions, rapid-fire cuts; children's shows become extended toy advertisements; one music video segues into what is apparently another--but turns out to be a car commercial.
Gitlin is talking about the blurring of distinctions in all of television, but that blurring seems the most problematic when referring to the blurring between news and entertainment. As both Gitlin and Postman find, the public is being ill-served by a medium that has always been regarded as having an obligation to serve the public and to do so through public service, specifically as carried through the news division.
Joshua Meyrowitz makes some interesting observations on the audience for these programs and finds that many people who would be uncomfortable reading about transvestites, say, or going into a bookstore and asking for a book on the subject are quite comfortable sitting at home and watching them on a television show: "Talk show hosts such as Phil Donahue hav...