The media are collapsing. Newspapers. Magazines. TV. Radio. Everything. On the Media co-host Bob Garfield explains why it’s happening, and how the Internet might – but probably won’t – replace what is lost for audiences, advertisers, Hollywood and society.

The yin and the yang of mass media and mass marketing--so marvelously, mutually sustaining for 400 years--have decoupled. The digital universe that pried them apart is itself a marvel, shifting power from the few to the many and altering human behavior not to mention economies, on a grand scale. The question for business--as well as government, religion, science, politics, academia and every other institution hitherto operated from the top down--is what to do now.

Bob Garfield, co-host of On the Media, spent more than four years, and explored five continents, seeking answers along the way. Beginning in a Denmark cow pasture, he roamed from Estonia to Australia, Israel to England, Montenegro to Brazil, California to Conshohocken, PA., trying to locate the pathways out of chaos. Along the way, he contrived what he calls the art and science of Listenomics, a set of principles for taking advantage of the very power shifts that so threaten The Powers That Be. His terrifying and entertaining tale is meant to help you sort it all out.

Brooke Gladstone will moderate a discussion at the end of the event.

Tuesday, December 08, 2009 at 07:00 PM
Duration: 1 hour, 30 minutes