COMM 150: Narrowing in on final exam question

We've been talking in class lately on how and whether the media, especially in a 24/7 news cycle driven by the Internet and cable news networks, are contributing to what some describe as a coarsening of public discourse in America. We'll keep considering the issue as we study the chapters on entertainment, research, governance and ethics during the next three weeks.

I'm taking the term "coarsening" from President Obama, who used it last fall in speaking of the debate over his health care plan. I think it's broader than that, but let's start with what Obama said before we go on to Lindsay Lohan, paparazzi and the wonders of market research. It came up when Obama was interviewed on "60 Minutes" last fall. Here's the exact quote, from a transcript of his interview with Steve Kroft of CBS News, aired Sept. 13, 2009. The introductory graf in all-caps transitions into his discussion of an incident in which U.S. Rep. Joe Wilson, R-S.C., exlaimed "You lie!" during Obama's address to a joint session of Congress on health care reform shortly beforehand:

THE PRESIDENT SAYS THERE IS A BROAD CONSENSUS ON WHAT NEEDS TO BE DONE, BUT THERE ARE ALSO STILL SERIOUS DISAGREEMENTS OVER HOW TO DO IT, AND AS HE FOUND OUT THIS PAST WEEK THEY ARE NOT NECESSARILY POLITE DISAGREEMENTS.

STEVE KROFT:

I was talking to my CBS colleague, Bob Schieffer this morning. And-- we were talking about 9/11 and he was talking about the-- the sense of unity he felt in the country on that day, and was comparing that to the situation we have now. When you were-- I mean, you were heckled. (LAUGHTER) Not at a town meeting. Not on the campaign trail, but on-- in-- in the joint session of Congress.

PRESIDENT OBAMA:

Actually, my town meetings, people were extraordinarily courteous. (LAUGHTER) Yeah.

STEVE KROFT:

Were you surprised?

PRESIDENT OBAMA:

Well-- Congressman Wilson-- shouting out during-- during my joint sessions speech was a surprise not just to me, but I think— to a lot of his Republican colleagues. Who, you know, said that - it wasn't appropriate. He apologized afterwards, which I think-- I-- I appreciated. And I-- I-- I've said so.

The truth of the matter is that-- there has been I think a coarsening of our political dialogue. That I've been running against since I got into politics.

As I said, I think it goes beyond politics. Here's the question as I've been framing it to myhself: Do you think it's accurate to say there is a coarsening of public discourse going on in America today? How does it play out in entertainment? In the news business? In politics? Where else? How do the media contribute to it? And perhaps especially this? How does the way that different media make their money contribute to this coarsening of the messages they communicate? Do they hype it up to sell more copies? Do they appeal to the lowest common denominator?