Starfish Bourdieu

This article was helpful to me personally because my paper for CMC 200 has to do with the influence that television has on its viewers. Many people do not realize just how powerful television is. People tend to say that they are not affected by the news, or other television programming they watch, but the truth is whether they know it or not, they are. People look to television to get their news, and to be entertained and a lot of the time their thoughts and views on the world are affected subconsciously. It is not only the programs that affect the viewer but Bourdieu says that the individuals on these programming have a certain power over the viewer.

“Our news anchors, our talk show hosts, and our sports announcers have turned into two-bit spiritual guides, representatives of middle-class morality. They are always telling us what we “should think” about what they call “social problems”, such as violence in the inner city or in schools” (329)

After reading this quote the first thing that popped into my head was Opera, the most famous talk show host of all time. I know woman who almost base their lives around Opera talks about on her show. People look to her for guidance and think a certain way because Opera tells them too. Her book club is another great example of her influence over people. If a book is on Opera’s list and has been highly recommended by her, the book sells like crazy. Everyone needs to read it because Opera says so.

Another point Bourdieu makes is that television has upstaged print media. “Television’s power of diffusion means that it poses a terrible problem for the print media...”328. I like this to the concept of “cult of the new.” In the postmodern culture, we want everything bigger, newer and faster. When you compare television to a newspaper or print source, there is no competition. Television brings people the information they want when they want it, and is more technologically advanced.