what happens when everyone makes media?

What happens, let's say, in high schools, when the tv and film production departments are as popular as theater and music departments currently are, and everyone is filming all the time. When a school with 2000 students has five student-produced reality tv programs, three documentaries, five fictional films, and six news reporters all in production at the same time? Where does reality go?

We can see what will happen by looking to politics. From a brief LA Times article (reg. required), by Eric Slater, on the ubiquity of media technology on the campaign trail.


The omnipresence of video and voice-recording devices, and the ability to ship the information from almost anywhere at almost any time, has had another unforeseen effect on the campaigns, many journalists and others say — the increased unwillingness of candidates to talk casually with reporters, and thereby the public...

"I genuinely believe that there's no such thing as an honest moment in these primaries," (Alexandra "Journeys With George") Pelosi lamented. "Now it's a reality television show. There's never an off-the-record moment, [so] all the candidates became caricatures of their made-for-TV-persona. Everything is being shot and everything that's shot is being talked about."

Comments (0)
Posted by eli chapman at April 6, 2004 09:36 AM