Highlights a new group that is determined to put cultural
decision-making back with the public. The contention that our culture is
the result of the 'concentration of control of and by media'; Cultural
Environment Movement (CEM) led by George Gerbner (former dean at
University of Pennsylvania); Details; Contact point.
By
PT Staff, published on January 01, 1994
MEDIA AND MARKETING
Perhaps it was the day 10-year-olds could name more brands of beer
than U. S. presidents. But somewhere along the recent way, our culture
has become so thoroughly manufactured by marketers that it is no longer
able to give real sustenance to thousands of Americans.
Instead of growing up on homemade stories in which we learn about
ourselves, we are fed mass-produced images that fit only a few,
stigmatizing and marginalizing the rest. As if this weren't bad enough,
we are subsidizing our own dehumanization because we are forced to pay
the hidden promotional cost at the checkout counter.
Unfair! Taxation without representation, declares the Cultural
Environment Movement (CEM), a group now forming that is determined to put
cultural decision-making back where it belongs-- with the public. Led by
George Gerbner, Ph.D., former dean of the University of Pennsylvania's
Annenberg School of Communications, the group feels that this is leading
to a great narrowing of cultural perspectives.
Most of us didn't have a hand in bringing about this state of
affairs; it didn't arise spontaneously or by thoughtful deliberation. It
is, rather, the result of the "concentration of control of and by
media."
The point is, it is "a radical departure overriding significant
public opposition."
But the fallout is just beginning to be realized: "The promotion of
practices that drug, hurt, poison, and kill thousands every day; cults of
violence that desensitize, terrorize, and brutalize; the growing siege
mentality of our cities; the drift toward ecological suicide; the silent
crumbling of our infrastructure..." You get the picture.
The CEM seeks to educate Americans about the media, thus opening it
up to the democratic process--without fostering censorship.
It welcomes advice and support. Write: Cultural Environment
Movement, P.O. Box 31847, Philadelphia, PA 19104.
ILLUSTRATION
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