Hold the presses.

In the Sunday Book Review of the New York Times, Bill Keller, the executive editor of the New York Times, reviewed the biography, "Publisher." The life and times of Henry Luce who founded Time magazine. Look, and Life magazines during the 1940's and 50's.

Keller writes:

"Whatever else you think of Luce, he never dived down-market. Whenever his publications flagged, Luce insisted that the way to invigorate them was to make them better, not dumber, more populist, more sensational or more cynical."

It seems to me that much of today's media, magazines, newspapers and cable TV stations subscribe to the dumber and more sensational point of view. The public thereby is less informed and looses out on enlightened discussion.

One paragraph in particular struck a chord with me in Keller's review,

"But it is probably fair to say that the cacophony of today’s media — in which rumor and invective often outpace truth-testing, in which shouting heads drown out sober reflection, in which it is possible for people to feel fully informed without ever encountering an opinion that contradicts their prejudices — plays some role in the polarizing of our politics, the dysfunction of our political system and the increased cynicism of the American electorate."