Kuloco, Bourdieu

“Any journalist who wants power or influence has to have a TV program… This calls into question the specificity of writing, and, for that matter, the specificity of the entire profession.” (331-332)

Pierre Bourdieu is a sociologist, giving a fresh and less dense critique of our postmodern society. While he analyzed French television in the 1990s, one can see the parallels to contemporary television in American culture. In our postmodern American society, just as Bourdieu noticed with the French, information is received by the general public through the easiest and most accessible form. Recently with the advances in technology, consuming media has become inexpensive and effortless. This is represented most by television.
Television has expanded to encompass, what seems like, an infinite amount of channels. No matter what you are in the mood for, no matter what your point of view, anyone can find something that they want to watch. The television has become so embedded into our daily lives that it is often on in the background, while people go on living their lives. However, even though it does not hold the same important and impressive connotations that it has in the past, it still has a great influence in the beliefs and opinions of the general public. This is best exemplified by “TV news.” Bourdieu points out that these views that are held by mass television audiences reflect the opinions of the journalists’. Stations like CNN and Fox have perpetuated the views of the elite corporations through the stories and information that is provided by journalists on these news networks. As the quote states above, audience beliefs are largely influenced by these programs.
In a generation that is so dependent on technology for all aspects of life, information is often received through the easily accessible “TV news.” Young people in our society have been seriously impacted by these channels, and they are socialized to believe what they are told—who to trust, what to think and how to feel. This socialization has given credibility to the news channels. Since it was mentioned on the syllabus, while reading Bourdieu’s article, I kept referring to Comedy Central’s The Colbert Report. Television and news channels act to inform and entertain the audiences, and not many people have epitomized on the entertainment factor as much as Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert. They have formed a new genre of television shows—comedic news television. While they function for entertainment purposes, the younger generation has started to give them more validity as news sources—starting to take the opinions of comedians, rather than those of journalists. Their impact has sparked another movement, one that normalizes this behavior. This movement could possibly have many negative consequences for the political and educational future of our society.