Obama Swipes at Media, Says ‘Information’ Onslaught Pressuring ‘Democracy’
In his latest swipe at the modern media environment, President Obama used a commencement speech over the weekend to bemoan the onslaught of information in the digital age and suggest that the gusher of news out there is too much of a good thing.
From FOXNews.com
While knowledge is power, the information age could be too much of a good thing. That’s the message some heard in President Obama’s weekend commencement speech in which he bemoaned
Speaking at Hampton University in Virginia, the president raised alarms when he said “information becomes a distraction, a diversion” that is putting “pressure on our country and on our democracy.”
The president suggested less is more when it comes to absorbing news content and urged graduates to take a skeptical eye toward news from blogs, cable television and radio as well as modern gadgets like iPods and PlayStations.
The class of 2010 is “coming of age in a 24/7 media environment that bombards us with all kinds of content and exposes us to all kinds of arguments, some of which don’t always rank that high on the truth meter,” the president said, earning an honorary doctorate of laws degree during the ceremony.
“And with iPods and iPads; and Xboxes and PlayStations — none of which I know how to work — (laughter) — information becomes a distraction, a diversion, a form of entertainment, rather than a tool of empowerment, rather than the means of emancipation. So all of this is not only putting pressure on you; it’s putting new pressure on our country and on our democracy,” he said.
But coming from a commander-in-chief known for his fondness for technology and skill at employing it to his political advantage, Obama’s comments were seen as more than just a president’s lament that the Kindle could someday replace the hardcover.
“Nobody (has) used the media more masterfully” than Obama, said Brent Bozell, president of the conservative Media Research Center. “Now he turns against certain elements of it because he doesn’t need them anymore, he thinks.”
Obama has endured some nasty rumors at the hands of the Internet. Blogs and comment pages continue to allege that the president has not been honest about his place of birth — Hawaii — or about his religion — Christianity.
The White House has assiduously rebutted and marginalized those whisper campaigns.
“With so many voices clamoring for attention on blogs, and on cable, on talk radio, it can be difficult, at times, to sift through it all — to know what to believe, to figure out who’s telling the truth and who’s not. Let’s face it, even some of the craziest claims can quickly gain traction. I’ve had some experience in that regard,” he said.
Targeting cable, radio and blogs has become somewhat of a political sport of the Obama administration.
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