Why I Don’t Read Newspapers

(written in 1971)
by Richard Kostelanetz (March 2016)

A prime blight of serious political discussion in this country is newspaper literacy, which is to say that too much talk and writing reveals facts and awarenesses gleaned largely, if not exclusively, from daily newspapers. The surest sign of newspaper literacy is a sense of worldly significance reflecting a journalistic distribution of emphases, particularly with the inference that the lead stories on the front page report the most important occurrences of the moment.

NNDB.com, Wikipedia.com, and Britannica.com, among other distinguished directories. Otherwise, he survives in New York, where he was born, unemployed and thus overworked.

 

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