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On November 21st, 1980, something happened that shook the world. 350 million people tuned in to the television drama ‘Dallas’ in order to find out ‘Who Shot JR?’
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The previous series had ended in March 1980, with what is now described as one of television’s most famous cliff-hangers. If you know, or care, about Dallas, or JR, you will know the outcome. But even if you have never heard of the series or the characters, the episode was one of the turning points in television history, and also – peripherally – in our global history as well.
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1980 was the around the beginning of the time when television was the most powerful medium in the world. Millions of people had watched the Apollo 11 moonlanding in 1969, but 2 billion watched Michael Jackson’s Live Aid in 1985; 2 billion people watched the funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales in 1997; 2 billion watched the Twin Towers in New York being hit by planes in 2011; 3.2 billion watched the South African soccer World Cup in 2010; 3.6 billion watched the 2012 London Olympics.
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From the Eighties to the Naughties, television was our global watercooler. TV could reach vast numbers of people and transfix them with a single event.
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And then the Internet came along. All of a sudden, we could access information from multiple sources. More significantly, the Smartphone became widespread in 2009, and mass media has never been the same. Now, the world had access to the Internet in their pocket, in their hand – and they could find information anywhere they wanted to. Social media created multiple streams around communities and interest groups.
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This is both good and bad – on the one hand more information is now availabe to mankind, in the most easily-accessible format ever, but on the other hand it has fragmented society. People tend to gather around the news and information sources that confirm their own beliefs and biases, and are no longer exposed to other points of view. The radicalisation of information is the result.
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Due to our fragmenting society, the speed of information, the ubiquity of connectivity – there will never be another time when the world gathers around its radio or television set and holds a collective breath. And we are all the poorer for it.
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But we here at the Chronicle are trying to make up for that! So here, to bring you different points of view, interesting perspectives and odd-little-corner stories, is the Chronicle. Enjoy.
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Community radio stations uncover a festering wound of corruption
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Corruption Watch partners with Community Radio Stations
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First published in Daily Maverick 168
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https://www.pressreader.com/south-africa/daily-maverick/20201106/281569473247043
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Conversations with good friends can often meander in wonderful ways. At one point frankincense kept popping up in the conversations I was having. So I thought it deserved a closer look.
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One of the challenges that conservationists face is to change attitudes towards insects. One way to do so is through art.
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Finding Harmony, Making Magic
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Leadership Lessons from Jazz Bands “The great leaders are like the best conductors – they reach beyond the notes to reach the magic in the players.” – Blaine Lee Many organisations, steeped in traditional hierarchy, probably look a lot like an orchestra. Each musician is given their exact set of musical notes to play, and are led by a conductor, …
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We all have emotional triggers which can affect our lives. Bad or Good? You decide which it is … and are you a victim?
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Enter Leighton House in London to get a glimpse into the life of the pre-eminent Victorian artist Lord Frederick Leighton. That fascinating life included an intriguing relationship with an East End beauty, which inspired George Bernard's Shaw's novel 'Pygmalion' that was made into a play and the movie My Fair Lady.
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A Quest to Unfurl Life's Hidden Message - By Vaughan Jones
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A poetry challenge in Licentia form.
- In looking up at heaven's deep void cask,
in the blue illusion of the day I bask.
Our Sun radiates warmth and light to Earth's realm,
nature and our solar system at the helm.
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Where Words Take Us - Gewaarwording
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You are aware, I hope, that every language has certain words which are just so precisely descriptive that you know exactly what they mean, even if it's a very abstract concept. One such English word is 'mind'. We just don't have an Afrikaans equivalent for it that encompasses the concept in its entirety. Bur today, I'll show you one such word in Afrikaans.
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With thanks to Adam Nieścioruk from Unsplash for the feature image. https://unsplash.com/s/photos/adam-niescioruk
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So we’ve covered where we’re at in the Covid-19 media mix and we now know that online is where it’s at. The retailers that will turn out to be clear winners this year-end and into the future will need to adapt quickly to be more digitally savvy and price-sensitive to retain their existing customers.
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Fossil fuel is shuffling off stage I finally realised that the writing was on the proverbial firewall for petrolheads when an unsolicited email eased its way onto my Mac screen. Here’s the opening line: 'A Dutch firm called Voitures Extravert wants to convert your vintage 911 into a fully electric vehicle.' A quick scan of the ubiquitous ‘Net illustrated the …
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