Back when the economy was a matter of soybeans and steel, it seemed like dull stuff. High tech has made business sexy. One result is that products themselves have become the news, the epicenter of what's fit to print. The news today often reads like a kind of Commodities on Parade. Release of a new Microsoft Windows upgrade gets the kind of coverage once reserved for a revolution in China.
News weeklies tout products as front-page stories.
Shop Till You Drop. National Public Radio, which is supposed to be an alternative to the corporate media, is becoming a case study of how ads and news have morphed into one another. There was little inquiry into what they actually thought. Then came an account of the battle between Toys 'R Us and Wal-Mart for supremacy in the toy market. The reporter offered nothing on the implications for kids and families when two giant corporations fight to cajole little kids to nag their parents for expensive toys.