Media Styles then and now.....

On Tuesday two events happened which typify some significant changes in the setting for the media. First, Don Herbert, better known to a couple of generations of kids as Mr. Wizard, died. Herbert had trained to be a teacher but was attracted to the new medium of television to mix an interest in acting with an underlying gift to help young people understand science. He started on a Chicago TV station. The image you see of him is a good representation. Each week he would begin his show with a trick of science - something that did not make sense or surprised one. Then with the help of an audience of children he would explain the issue using concise and clear explanations. In short he saw his job as a teacher and he did it very well.

Also on Tuesday, Michael Moore, movie producer came to Sacramento to push legislation on universal health care. Moore has also used the media successfully. Over the last two decades he has done a series of "documentaries" beginning with a somewhat humorous Roger and Me which presented one person's opinion about closing the Flint plant of GM. He went on to do a couple of more movies, meant not to present an issue in Mr. Wizard's style of objectivity but with a clear ideological bias. His current project, Sicko, is like the rest of his work - heavily ideological and unwilling to even admit an alternative point of view.

In one sense, the Mr. Wizard media hero of the 1950s was understated. He made his point by the sheer force of his logic and his commitment to use the media as an instructional device. Moore, like his weight, is a bit over the top. Never mind that each of his documentaries is constructed to make a political point with little regard for the facts. Moore's "teaching" style is nothing but heavy handed. Herbert's style was to inspire, Moore's seems to be to incite.