It is by all odds the loftiest of cities. It even managed to reach the highest point in the sky at the lowest moment of the depression.
E. B. WhiteRead
The most puzzling thing about TV is the steady advance of the sponsor across the line that has always separated news from promotion, entertainment from merchandising. The advertiser has assumed the role of originator, and the performer has gradually been eased into the role of peddler.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote highlights the blurring lines between news and advertisements in television.
E.B. White's quote critiques the evolving landscape of television, where traditional separations between news and advertisement, as well as entertainment and selling, are increasingly obscured. He observes that advertisers are not just sponsors but have taken on influential roles, overshadowing the credibility of news and transforming performers into marketeers, which raises concerns about the integrity of the content consumed by the public.
Themes
AdvertisementTelevisionNewsEntertainmentSponsorship
In practice
Example use cases
This quote could be used in a discussion on media ethics in journalism classes.
More from E. B. White
All quotes →It isn't silence you can cut with a knife any more, it's interchange of ideas. Intelligent discussion of practically everything is what is breaking up modern marriage.
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The main thing I try to do is write as clearly as I can. Because I have the greatest respect for the reader, and if he's going to the trouble of reading what I've written -- I'm a slow reader myself and I guess most people are -- why, the least I can do is make it as easy as possible for him to find out what I'm trying to say, trying to get at. I rewrite a good deal to make it clear.
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A good farmer is nothing more nor less than a handy man with a sense of humus.
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A despot doesn't fear eloquent writers preaching freedom- he fears a drunken poet who may crack a joke that will take hold.
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All writing is communication; creative writing is communication through revelation-it is the Self-escaping into the open.
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