Infotainment Graphics

In the interest of full disclosure I feel the need to openly state that I am a registered Democrat. With that out of the way and the air now cleared, the following post is not a swing at the Fox News Channel (well, okay, it kind of is) but serves as a graphic representation of just how low the standards in mass media coverage have fallen over recent years. With the next American Presidential election less than a year away, two wars being fought overseas, and numerous other tragedies occuring around the globe on a too frequent basis; it is of critical importance that the public is well informed on all matters pertaining to such issues.

Bad news. As it turns out, the head infotainment honchos over at the Fox News Channel are churning out news story graphics with the same level of proficiency, skill, and accuracy as the pictures you would find taped up on the front of the refrigerator at your local daycare center.

The error in this last photo is a bit trickier to spot than the other three, so here is a hint: Shibuyaeggman is not, well, anything. Shibuya is a district in Tokyo, Eggman is a trendy underground nightclub located within it, neither is a nuclear power plant.

To put the minds of any potentially more conservatively minded readers at ease, this blog will not be solely about bashing Fox News. It is a critique of the media as a whole. So, as a gesture of peace I offer you a glimpse at the topics soon to be discussed, dissected, and dismissed on MASS MEDIⒶCRACY:

• Arianna Huffington and The Huffington Post.
• Will.I.Am live via hologram on CNN's 2008 election coverage.
• Mad Money with Jim Cramer on CNBC.
• Rachel Maddow's highlighter lightsaber incident on MSNBC.

Images courtesy of: www.mediamatters.org

Mass Mediacracy

In beginning this blog I feel it is only appropriate to put forth an answer to the question which has not yet been asked but which doubtlessly will be. Yes, I do in fact know how to correctly spell the word 'mediocracy'. The intentional misspelling is a not-so-subtle strike to the core of what I believe is one of the largest looming issues of the modern age; the mediocracy of mass media. Mediocre news stories, reporting, fact-checking, song-writing, film-making, singing, dancing, you-name-it, dominate mass media. As a result, America is now ruled over and fed by a Mediocracy comprised of a mediocre mass media: a Mediacracy, if you will. Scattered across this great nation are remnants of once grand news media empires that have fallen into rapidly deteriorating states of disrepair while conversely gaining more power and influence then they have had at any other point in history; the cause of which can all be traced back to one single word.

Infotainment  [in-fuh-teyn-muh'nt]

noun

1. A bastardized hybridity of a word stemming from such transmogrified origins as to invoke the utter horror and abject terror of the soulless piecemeal creature from Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. 

2. The status quo for American news delivery and public consumption.