Naturally, people — especially in America — live in the moment and, given the “crisis” orientation of cable news, think that [the 2000s are] the worst period the country has ever gone through. Not really.

It is not enough for journalists to see themselves as mere messengers without understanding the hidden agendas of the message and the myths that surround it.

Newspapers take peoples’ tragedies and force the world to experience all of it.

If it’s true that nothing is more potent than an idea, then those who control the media can direct minds en masse.

The news is staged, anticipated, reported, analyzed until all interest is wrung from it and abandoned for some new novelty.

Th' newspaper does ivrything f'r us. It runs th' polis foorce an' th' banks, commands th' milishy, controls th' ligislachure, baptizes th' young, marries th' foolish, comforts th' afflicted, afflicts th' comfortable, buries th' dead an' roasts thim aftherward.