The bestselling novel of 1961 was Allen Drury’s Advise and Consent. Millions of people read this 690-page political novel. In 2016, the big sellers were coloring books.
Fifteen years ago, cable channels like TLC (the “L” stood for Learning), Bravo and the History Channel (the “History” stood for History) promised to add texture and information to the blighted TV landscape. Now these networks run shows about marrying people based on how well they kiss.
It’s from a few months ago, but Seth Godin is really on fire in The Candy Diet.
Couldn’t agree more, Matt! And don’t forget A&E, which was all about classic mystery, drama and comedy (and I mean PBS quality shows, not simply reality TV.)
Growing up in the 80s and 90s in India, a lot of news we consumed was read. As kids we read the newspaper conversed with our parents about the world. We had questions about world affairs.
For much of the middle class of Indians that has changed to watching – thanks to the cable news explosion over the last couple of decades.
The same goes for much of TV programming. Almost every program that forced a sense of inquisitiveness, fostered curiosity and critical thinking is done and dusted.
Over time thanks to being friends with some cool folks who are journalists and activists in India – I came across a terrible trend in the publishing industry of journalists who do actual investigative reporting losing their jobs. This gets more acute in the rural parts of India. Most of them were working for the mainstream newspapers who are now mainly covering celebrity news.
I see WordPress – as a FOSS software as having a role in all this – as a way for these journalists to have a way of publishing their stories and being freelancers.
Some are doing great work – a lot of the best reporting out of India on various social and economic issues has come out by reporters who have embraced self-publishing on the internet their stories. A lot more of that needs to happen. Figuring out how such publishers get paid is also important. Hopefully that’s the next 27% would be all about. 🙂