Amusing Ourselves to Death: TV News as Entertainment
This paper examines Chapter Seven of Neil Postman's Amusing Ourselves to Death, applying his critique of television news to real-world examples from CNN and local broadcast news. The paper argues that Postman is correct in characterizing television news as fragmented, context-free entertainment driven by celebrity anchors, sound bites, and visual spectacle. Drawing on examples such as CNN shows like "News Night with Aaron Brown," "Crossfire," and CNN Headline News, the analysis demonstrates how the news industry's embrace of entertainment values produces what Postman calls "disinformation" — a misleading picture of the world assembled from rapid-fire, decontextualized facts.
- Introduction: Postman's Critique of Television News: Postman argues TV news reduces reality to entertainment
- The 'Now … This' Structure of Broadcast News: Fragmented format reflects America's discontinuous public discourse
- CNN as a Case Study in News-as-Entertainment: CNN programming exemplifies Postman's news-as-entertainment thesis
- The Celebrity Anchor Phenomenon: Named shows and attractive anchors signal entertainment priorities
- Fragmentation, Context, and Disinformation: Rapid-fire delivery produces misleading, decontextualized news
- Conclusion: The Best Entertained, Least Informed: Corporate media consolidation deepens the news-entertainment problem
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What makes this paper effective
- The paper grounds every claim in specific, concrete examples — named CNN programs, individual anchors, and real news events — rather than relying on vague generalizations.
- It acknowledges a potential counterargument (that entertainment value is a necessary part of reaching audiences) before rebutting it, demonstrating basic critical thinking.
- The analysis extends Postman's framework beyond the book's original examples, applying his concepts to contemporary programming that postdates the text.
Key academic technique demonstrated
The paper models applied textual analysis: it takes a theoretical framework from a primary source (Postman's critique) and tests it against independent evidence. By mapping Postman's specific claims — celebrity faces, musical punctuation, the "now … this" transition, forty-five-second stories — onto actual CNN programming and local news conventions, the writer demonstrates how to use a scholarly argument as an analytical lens rather than simply summarizing it.
Structure breakdown
The paper opens by introducing Postman's central thesis and immediately conceding then dismissing the strongest objection to it. It then works through Postman's key claims one by one — format, celebrity, fragmentation, disinformation — each illustrated with a CNN or local-news example. The conclusion widens the lens to the corporate ownership structure underlying the entertainment-news convergence, ending on a pointed rhetorical flourish borrowed from Monty Python.
In Chapter Seven of Amusing Ourselves to Death, Neil Postman critiques television news, arguing that its flashy format has reduced reality to fluff for entertainment value. While there are some exceptions to Postman's perception of television news, in general he is correct in claiming that television news is "news without context, without consequences, without value, and therefore without essential seriousness … news as pure entertainment" (100).
At first it may be tempting to disagree with Postman's harsh criticisms of television news, especially those based on his claim that most newscasters must have faces fit for magazine covers. A cursory glance at some reporters reveals that at least a few are overweight and comparatively unattractive. However, most, if not all, television news anchors have what Postman calls "credible" faces; otherwise, they would be doing radio news. Postman's critique of what so many Americans hold dear — television — is sadly accurate.
Most television news, from local nightly broadcasts to 24-hour services like CNN, is designed to hold viewers captive not with intelligent discourse but with sound bites and bits of information stripped of any broad context. Postman provides a perfect example of such fragmentation when he describes how television news handled the Iranian hostage crisis. He asks, "Would it be an exaggeration to say that not one American in a hundred knows what language the Iranians speak?" — in spite of the constant imagery and tidbits broadcast on the evening news (107).
The chapter title "Now … This" alludes to the brief phrase uttered in transition from one news segment to another, or from a news segment to a set of commercials. According to Postman, the phrase "serves as a compact metaphor for the discontinuities in so much that passes for public discourse in present-day America" (99). Television news is indeed comprised of fragments tailored for short attention spans — segments that are, as Postman observes, punctuated by musical cues and other random sensory input.
Although few anchors use the exact words "Now … This" to signal a transition, the meaning is implied through phrases like "We'll be right back," or through a simple change in tone of voice. These bits and fragments are arranged magazine-style, with catchy titles. As Postman states on page 112, "magazines have taught television that nothing but entertainment is news."
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