How to Watch TV News

Front Cover
America is suffering from an information glut, and most Americans are no longer clear about what news is worth remembering or how any of it connects to anything else. Thus Americans are rapidly becoming the least knowledgeable people in the industrial world. For anyone who wants to control--not be controlled by--the powerful influence of television, How to Watch TV News shows you how to become a discerning viewer.

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Contents

ARE YOU Watching TELEVISION OR IS TELEVISION WATCHING YOU?
1
WHAT IS NEWS?
11
GETTING THEM INTO THE ELECTRONIC TENT
27
Copyright

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About the author (1992)

Born in Brooklyn, New York, and educated at the State University of New York and Columbia University, Neil Postman is a communications theorist, educator, and writer who has been deeply involved with the issue of the impact of the media and advanced communications technology on American culture. In his many books, Postman has strongly opposed the idea that technology will "save" humanity. In fact, he has focused on the negative ways in which television and computers alter social behavior. In his book Technopoly, Postman argues that the uncontrolled growth of technology destroys humanity by creating a culture with no moral structure. Thus, technology can be a dangerous enemy as well as a good friend. Postman, who is married and has three children, currently is a professor of media ecology at New York University and editor of Et Cetera, the journal of general semantics. In addition to his books, he has contributed to various magazines and periodicals, including Atlantic and The Nation. He has also appeared on the television program Sunrise Semester. Postman is the holder of the Christian Lindback Award for Excellence in Teaching from New YorkUniversity.

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