A Summary Of Neil Postman's Analysis Of Television

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Does entertainment control the way we watch television? In Neil Postman’s analysis of television news, indicates that to catch the viewers’ attention the program has to use images rather than words. Postman looks at news as pure entertainment without essential seriousness. On January 25, 2016, I watched WDAM local news, during my watching I saw a lot of what Postman criticized. For example, the use and style of music that plays when a commercial comes on, the ongoing “Now…this” phenomenon, and the balance between relevant and irrelevant stories on the news. My ultimate goal was to watch a 30-minute news segment and pick a side on whether I support Postman’s claim.
As long as there is music the viewer will always be comforted into thinking everything is ok. While I was watching the news I noticed that the music would always play before a commercial would come on, the type of music that was playing was a kind of low-tempo drum beat, it was very soothing to say the …show more content…

“Now…this” is commonly used on radio and television newscasts to show that what one has just seen or heard has no relevance to what one is about to hear or see, or possibly anything one is never likely to hear or see. “Now… this” is also commonly used when the news anchor is transitioning topics. WDAM news is a part of the Now… This Phenomenon. January 25, 2016, I realized the news had no consistency. The topic would go from relevant to irrelevant in a matter of seconds. For example, a drug bust in Perry County was being discussed and seconds later they were talking about how many Patti pies were being sold. To go into detail Patti Pies are pies made by the Legendary Patti Labelle, which had no relevance of being discussed. Carrie Leggett-Brown transitioned by saying, “In other news”, and went on to talk about something different. Each topic being discussed gets at least two minutes before being interrupted by now…this, or a

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