For nearly a half-century, TV changed little. It was the electronic hearth built by three networks that gave us a common culture and shared memories. The network news, which used to bring us together every evening, is lucky to reach a quarter of adult Americans. Nor is television the only medium chasing demographics. In magazines, newspapers, radio, and film, marketing imperatives drive even editorial content.
Segmented media accelerate the fragmentation of our culture.
And we have yet to see the full impact of the imminent merger of television and the Internet. As media propagates, entertainment values will continue to dominate public and intellectual life. In the Nineties, we have seen the triumph of celebrity as the primary measure of credibility and success. Publishers, who used to seek out serious authors to enrich our cultural life, comb the pages of People magazine for book ideas and seem interested only in acquiring authors who have publicity value. Perhaps just as significant is how the center of our intellectual life is shifting from New York to Hollywood, not because Hollywood's ideas have more power but because Hollywood has the power to convert ideas into the images we use to interpret our lives.