David Mindich's "Tuned Out"

Paper Summary:

This paper explains that David Mindich,in "Tuned Out: Why Americans under 40 Don't Follow the News," accuses the generations under forty for threatening American democracy because they don't read newspapers or even watch TV news and thus do not feel sufficiently motivated to vote. The author points out that Mindich's condemnation of young people not watching the news like their grandparents do implies that network news is a gold standard of quality, free of the reductionism or bias of other media; but Mindich criticizes network news for becoming entertainment-oriented news. The paper questions Mindich discounting the Internet as a source of news because, based on his survey, the news is not the prime reason for an individual's Internet use. The paper concludes that this way of thinking is as faulty as discounting television as a news source because the "greatest generation" bought their first television to watch 'I Love Lucy' rather than to watch the evening news.

From the Paper:

"The author's discounting of the Internet is in fact somewhat baffling. A college student talking to an old high school friend through Instant Messaging may send that friend a copy of an interesting article that flashed across the screen. News may not be prime reason for using the Internet but still the Internet is vital for transmitting news and opinion, even of dispatches from war torn areas, or disaster afflicted zones where the conventional media cannot penetrate. In ages past, sitting around the television watching the news may have had other purposes than information-family togetherness, relaxation, as well, but that did not discount the information received."

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