“Media doesn’t inform so much as it argues,...Context is everything, & we get very little context...” nyti.ms/1QURWNR N.Lear 20150628

Respectful, rational discourse is challenged by excessive small media clips

Interview of Norman Lear & Seth MacFarlane in New York Times June 28, 2015:

"NL: America’s biggest export is excess. We are excessive about everything. And we’ve become consumers of excess rather than citizens. Media doesn’t inform so much as it argues, bumper-sticker-style. Context is everything, and we get very little context now. We just get the 'Boom!'"

...

"SM: ...the massive overflow of media — too much media — has made it harder to have a discussion. The freedom to find answers through communication is punished when things are picked apart and used for profit as sound bites."

http://nyti.ms/1QURWNR

"Norman Lear and Seth MacFarlane and Their TV Families," interview in column "Table for Three," by Philip Galanes, June 26, 2015

"A version of this article appears in print on June 28, 2015, on page ST7 of the New York edition with the headline: All in the Family Guys"