Drew Cunningham

Dr. Soulis
FYS Section 4
9/17/12
IWA #2

Author:
- The author of the essay NOWTHIS is Neil Postman. Postman graduated
from the State University of New York at Fredonia and received his
masters and Ed. D from Teachers College, Columbia University. He was
employed by NYU and was the founder of the media ecology graduate
program at the Steinhardt School of Education. He died at the age of 72
from lung cancer. Postman published many works about his beliefs of how
television, along with other forms of visual media, had made our society
into one that was desensitized to the serious and complex nature of many
issues. That our news had been compromised and that we were much
worse off than in the 19th century when the main source of discourse was
through the written word.

Purpose:
-

The title of the work was selected to make the reader start to wonder how
the phrase, nowthis is going to be used in the essay. Postman starts
off his essay by giving the example of what the humorist H. Allen Smith
thought was the scariest words in the English language were: uh-oh.
However, Postman refutes this and suggests that nowthis (the words
used by newscasters to switch subjects. His reasoning for this is that he
feels it has ruined the discourse of America and has caused us to only
view the news in an entertaining light. Postmans final paragraph
compares the informational environment of the world to the game of
trivial pursuitusing current topics and news for the entertainment.
Herein lays the main motivation of Postman for writing this essay. He is
drawing attention to the fact that America has allowed our news to only
serve us as a vehicle for entertainment instead of actually informing us
about what is happening in the world. Postman noticed this through his
work and wanted to inform his readers of the disconnection between the
purpose of the news and the function it actually achieves.

Audience:
-

The target audience for this essay is for those individuals who are trying to
stay aware of the workings of the world. Postmans critique of society in
this essay would appeal to those readers and serve to inform them of his
ideas. This is addressing readers like me because I am in college trying to

obtain my education and to mold my mind to be a contributing member of

society.

Content:
-

The title tells us very little about the content of his essay and only serves
to introduce the phrase, nowthis. The first paragraph however does
introduce Postmans thesis and the central theme of his essay. The
conclusion is a powerful reinforcement of the ideas that were developed
throughout the piece. Comparing televised news to trivial pursuit though
a simile is a strong reiteration of Postmans point and sums up his critique
of the main discourse through which ideas are shared in this world.

Context:
-

The publication date of this work is from 1985 as part of Postmans book
Amusing Ourselves to Death. The date is important to this work because
in our day and age many things are read and viewed on the internet and
this is where much discourse is done. There is still the use of televised
news and it is important in broadcasting what is happening in the world.
The book was published by Viking Press, which is a part of the Penguin
publishing company.