McLemee on Trow.
Trow does not spell out in any detail what he means by “the middle distance” — the regions of the culture left out of the TV “grids.” But by implication, it seems to include most of what’s usually called civil society: the institutions, meeting places, and forums for discussion through which people voluntarily associate.
His point isn’t that the media completely avoid representing them, of course. But TV does not really encourage participation in them, either. Watching it is an atomized experience of being exposed to programs crafted to appeal to tens of millions of other people having the same experience.
Jordan - #
