[TheRealThing]

"I have a foreboding of an America in my children's or my grandchildren's time — when the United States is a service and information economy; when nearly all the key manufacturing industries have slipped away to other countries; when awesome technological powers are in the hands of a very few, and no one representing the public interest can even grasp the issues; when the people have lost the ability to set their own agendas or knowledgeably question those in authority; when, clutching our crystals and nervously consulting our horoscopes, our critical faculties in decline, unable to distinguish between what feels good and what's true, we slide, almost without noticing, back into superstition and darkness. The dumbing down of America is most evident in the slow decay of substantive content in the enormously influential media, the 30-second sound bites (now down to 10 seconds or less), lowest common denominator programming, credulous presentations on pseudoscience and superstition, but especially a kind of celebration of ignorance."

----  Carl Sagan . 1996 ( The Demon-Haunted World)

Sagan was prophetic.  RIP.
GET STARTED

^^ In this observation Carl Sagan was totally correct IMHO--- The dumbing down of America is most evident in the slow decay of substantive content in the enormously influential media, the 30-second sound bites (now down to 10 seconds or less), lowest common denominator programming, credulous presentations on pseudoscience and superstition, but especially a kind of celebration of ignorance."

----  Carl Sagan . 1996 ( The Demon-Haunted World)

Notice the date of the quote^^

Now. I'm guessing it took Carl a few months at least to research and write his book. And since FOX News didn't even go on air until October of 1996, what news organizations are you suggesting Sagan was referring to here?^^  I have to say Ronald Reagan has the BGR 4 horsemen summed up rather well. But where he may be lacking, Carl Sagan was eloquent when he referred to the celebration of ignorance.