Media Watch Column:Life without media?
JULIE GOETSCH
Imagine what our society would be like if mass media did not exist. What would we do? We would not have books, television, or radio. No advertisers would clamor for our attention, and no producers would create blockbuster movies. Life would be completely different from what we know it to be today.
Without books, receiving a good education would be nearly impossible. Teachers would have no standard knowledge base to teach from. Knowledge would differ from teacher to teacher. Information would be spread by word of mouth, allowing for many errors in its transmission. Students might not even learn what we consider basic skills, such as reading, writing and arithmetic. Students would only learn what they need to survive.
Various forms of the mass media provide us with entertainment. For instance, we go to movies, listen to compact disks, and read periodicals. They give us something in common. Without them, we would have to be more creative, such as singing our own songs and acting out our own plays.
Physical activity might be more popular. We would have to find new ways to keep active. Furthermore, our lives would be more family and community oriented since they would be our main source of entertainment, knowledge, and influence. Discussions would center on the local issues and gossip because. Without the mass media, our cities, towns, and surrounding areas become isolated communities.
The isolated communities would become the center of our political system. News from the national and local governments would be transmitted slowly—It could be weeks before learning something of great interest—making us feel more isolated. Therefore, our local issues would become the most important to us. We would have a greater sense of loyalty to our community than to our country causing a loss of national identity.
National and state political candidates would need to return to grass roots campaigns to reach their constituents. Otherwise, we would have no idea of the national and state campaign issues. But this also leads to greater opportunities for politicians to "stretch the truth" since no media would exist to transmit information immediately. It could be weeks, if ever, before we learned the truth. Our political system could become very weak
Our economic system would also be very different. Our stock market probably would not exist, since there would be no major corporations. Without advertising in the media, corporations would not earn enough capital to form and grow because people in different communities would not be able to find out about businesses located elsewhere.
Communities would have a limited number of goods and services available, and the theories of supply and demand dictate that a limited supply demands high prices. We would pay high prices for goods and services that might not be the best quality. Without advertising, we probably would only buy what we need, not what we want.
Mass media prevail in all aspects of our lives. It is hard to determine exactly what our lives would be like without them, and, at this point, we would be foolish to think we could exist without them.
Sept. 17, 1998 the Apache