Whether 500 cable channels will alter this fact remains to be seen. Receiving information visually is more passive. Visual information presents the images immediately, requiring no such creative generation. Brain wave experiments show that watching television puts the brain into a state of passivity not much different from hypnosis. Reading calls upon the imagination, while watching visual media often precludes the imagination.
TV news reduces all events to nearly the same level of importance.
The dog show may, in fact, receive more air time. The practice of newspeople of treating every event with the same flat demeanor only enhances this seeming equivalency. No event is taken to be any more disturbing than any other. Video presentation simplifies reality much more than textual presentation. Condensing a heated political debate to a 30-second spot leaves the viewer with little more than the reporter's bias as a means of forming a judgment.