Week #13 Question #2

· Do you agree with Marshall McLuhan that the medium is the message, i.e. that the format or logic of a medium is as important as its content and, in fact, determines what content will be broadcast through that channel? Evaluate his idea that television is a cool medium.

I do believe that the medium in which a message is presented is very important to the audience it is intended for. Each medium, however, has its pros and cons in use. Print media allows an infinite amount of time and space to present ideas and views to an audience. The problem here is that if the print media is too lengthy, or written in a way that cannot be understood by the masses, the audience is more likely to ignore or reject such media. Television media has the advantage of presenting a visual image to its audience which allows its message to be collected and analyzed by the audience within a mere seconds glance. The downfall to television media, however, is that time is strickly regulated and all the facts or the whole story can often times not be told. Forcing whole statements and events into a set time frame often leaves the audience ill informed. McLuhan's idea about television being a "cool medium" is one which definately applied to the Kennedy v. Nixon debate. Today, however, there would be those who would argue that cool collectiveness and hot headedness are both welcomed in media as they portray "real life". Just look at the last 10 years of "reality TV" with various casts at each others throats for whatever reason. 50 years ago it would be hard to imagine an American audience accepting a bunch of people on an island who want to kill each other for a million dollars...instead they got Gilligan. The coolness and hotness of the medium has changed along with that of the American culture. Around the world these attitudes toward the television medium and its relative hotness or collness depend on the cultures using the medium.