| One of the more interesting ideas in 1984 was the emergence of newsspeak. Newsspeak was the generation of slogans which effectively substituted rhetoric for thought or logic.
In today's media, news stories are generally contrained to a maximum of 30 second (radio) or 3 minute (television) segments. My belief is that this is very similar to Orwell's newsspeak. The primary difference is that it is not being done intentionally by various western governments, but voluntarily by the media itself. Nevertheless, the effect is the same: critical analysis of issues is being replaced by sloganised rhetoric (ironically, that phrase is a perfect example of what I mean).
Is this really happening?
What are the causes?
Is it a problem?
What are the solutions? |