Desperately seeking lowest common denominator

(Slate, Jack Shafer on Michael Crichton's opinion): ""The biggest change is that contemporary media has

• shifted from fact to

• opinion and speculation....Contentious hosts on cable shows* keep the arguments rolling,"

...Crichton believes that

• we live in an age of conformity much more confining than the 1950s....

• Instead of showing news consumers how to approach controversy coolly and intelligently,

• the media partake of the zealotry and intolerance

of many of the advocates they cover."....

• From Slate by Jack Shafer, "Michael Crichton Vindicated--His 1993 prediction of mass-media extinction now looks on target." 5/29/08 via Poynter.org/Romenesko.

*ESPN qualifies as does sports talk radio. ESPN ombudsman would agree.(sm)

• Who will stop the media celebrities? Sorry--the "guardians, the conscience of the game?"

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