Infotainment Rules,
a blog about
the stories making headlines,
the stories not making headlines,
and the stuff that masquerades as news
but functions as entertainment—
which is to say: all of it.
To find out what I mean, read this post. And then read the addendum below (from this post). That’ll have to do till I get the time to write a more complete essay.
Hepzeeba is a nom de guerre.
I’m a freethinker,
a New Yorker,
a news and media junkie,
a longtime student of political theater,
a culture vulture,
and an old-media professional.
addendum:
That “infotainment rules” is merely an observation about the state of the news, not a hearty endorsement of the sound bite and the publicity stunt and the emotional storytelling and the slugfests and the takedowns and the tug at the heartstrings or the kick in the gut delivered by infotainment, which has all but replaced the “news” on television.
When I call for better infotainment, it’s not because I don’t like serious news. Indeed I do. I’m a geek. I think Frontline is the most valuable program on television. But I recognize that I am in a tiny minority. I know that if the mass audience liked that documentary series much as I do, TV would be wall-to-wall Frontline clones.
Television, however, delivers what sells, and what sells is entertainment—or stuff that is packaged like entertainment. Infotainment doesn’t have to be bad or stupid or crass. High-quality infotainment may in fact be superior to dry “news” as a vehicle for delivering information to audiences.
