In Chapter Seven of Neil Postman"s book Amusing Ourselves to Death, the author critiques television news, claiming that its flashy format has reduced reality to fluff for entertainment value. While there are some exceptions to Postman"s perception of television news, in general the author is correct in claiming that television news is "news without context, without consequences, without value, and therefore without essential seriousness.news as pure entertainment," (100). At first it may be temping to disagree with Neil Postman"s harsh criticisms of television news, especially those that are based on his claim that most newscasters have to have faces fit for magazine covers. Any cursory glance at some reporters reveals that at least some are overweight and comparatively unattractive. However, most, if not all, television news anchors have what Postman calls "credible" faces; otherwise, they would be doing radio news. Postman"s critique of what so many Americans hold dear, television, is sadly true. Most television news, from local nightly services to 24-hour ones like CNN, are designed to hold viewers captive not with intelligent discourse but with sound bytes and bits of information that have no broad context. Postman provides a perfect example of such fragmentation when he describes the way the television news handled the Iranian hostage crisis. Postman asks, "Would it be an exaggeration to say that not one American in a hundred knows what language the Iranians speak?" in spite of being inundated with imagery and tidbits broadcasted on the evening news (107).

             The chapter title "Now.This" alludes to the brief statement uttered in transition from one news segment to another, or from one news segment to a set of commercial interruptions. According to Postman, the phrase "serves as a compact metaphor for the discontinuities in so much that passes for public discourse in present-day America," (99).