Abstract

IN COLD TYPE

This article discusses the authenticity and reliability of the media reports in the United states. There is a value to the much-criticized crawl that zipped along at the bottom of CNN's window during the attack on Afghanistan, beneath clips of dirty traitors and soldier-heroes and starving refugees. As the world's other news ticked blithely by, trivialized by the pictures above it, the ephemeral, superficial crawl reminded people of the worth of words that do not move, and of stories told in columns of type, not in video clips or on film. Magazines and newspapers (and online versions of these) still often manage to tackle complex stories and say things that have meaning, unlike so much of the media. And meaning, which is so unusual now that content is dead meaning generates a ripple of excitement.