The Sound Bite Society: Television and the American Mind [Hardcover]

Jeffrey Scheuer (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 19, 1999

Since the 1960s, American political life has undergone some major transformations: conservative politicians and values have proliferated, and television has become the main forum for public discourse. In The Sound Bite Society, Jeffrey Scheuer shows how these changes are directly connected and explains that the key to understanding these forces lies in the nature of television and its relationship to ideology. Scheuer asserts that television is an inherently simplistic medium favoring sentimental and one-dimensional communication: visceral sound bites and photo ops. But a vibrant democracy is possible only if conflicting, complex ideas are exchanged. The Sound Bite Society asks if television has served democracy; Scheuer answers with a definitive No. Challenging Americans to resuscitate complexity as part of our public life, this book is crucial to anyone interested in understanding and changing our political landscape.

Editorial Reviews

From Kirkus Reviews

Trying to prove that the right-wing of American politics actually controls the discourse on television and radio is a difficult task, and Scheuer's argument is too obscure to make the case convincingly, even to those who are versed in the intricacies of media studies. Scheuer, who has written about politics and media for a wide range of publications, starts out with a kind of sound bite of his own: Try to name corresponding television personalities on the left to Rush Limbaugh, Pat Robertson, and Ronald Reagan. Well, one could put forward George Stephanopolous, Jesse Jackson, and the pair of Clintons. But that hardly matters once Scheuer gets into his analysis. He quickly lets go of any concrete examples for weightier and more elusive ones. He first sets out to define what he means by left and right, which could get anyone bogged down in a book-length discussion without going anywhere at all. His notion is that the left views issues in a more complex manner than the right, which sees things in stark moral absolutes. He explains that this doesn't mean that the right is simple or simple-minded, just that it sees a clearer line through most of the topics that attract its attention: abortion, taxation, prayer in schools, etc. He says that these views play easier on television, which reduces everything to its simplest forms. What Scheuer never does, however, is link up this rubric with any concrete examples from mass media. He makes the claim that Limbaugh and Robertson stick out more than liberal commentators do, but he doesn't get into an analysis of audience sizes or specific content. So we know that right-leaning commentators can make sharp, clear statements, but we don't know exactly who is listening to them or what kind of influence they have. Without enough concrete examples, Scheuer's point about the influence of the right on the minds of Americans sinks into a hole of dry, analytical prose. -- Copyright ©1999, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Review

...refreshing. Whatever your political persuasion, however, The Sound Bite Society offers an interesting... take on what shapes the politics of television. -- NationalJournal.com
Irrespective of whether one fully agrees with Scheuer's thesis, [The Sound Bite Society] will be very useful in stimulating active discussion in classes dealing with political communication and the media. -- Susan Tyler Eastman, Communication Booknotes Quarterly
... a true intellectual discourse, an essay in the realm of ideas. -- The Jerusalem Post
Thoughtful, in many ways amazing. Part polemic and part rainbow of dazzling insights. -- Victor Navasky, Publisher and Editor-in-Chief, The Nation
The most searching book I have seen on television's assault on our psyches and our society. Scheuer emerges as not only a first-rank scholar of the media but a philosopher of the media. -- Daniel Schorr, Senior Analyst, National Public Radio
Beautifully written and powerfully argued...social criticism of the best kind. -- Michael Walzer, Institute for Advanced Study
Breaks new intellectual ground...deeply incisive. -- Chicago Tribune
Valuable... -- James Fallows, Washington Monthly
Exceptional...unusually well-argued and supported. -- The Eye, Toronto
An insightful but profoundly unsettling volume. -- Dissent
Scheuer aims to intrigue and provoke and he does [so] on every page. -- Boston Review --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 280 pages
• Publisher: Four Walls Eight Windows (August 19, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1568581416
• ISBN-13: 978-1568581415
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.9 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,672,027 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent analysis, January 28, 2000

By 

John Mesevage (New York) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Sound Bite Society: Television and the American Mind (Hardcover)

Scheuer's book is a gem, a worthy companion to Mander's Four Arguments for the Elimination of Television and Postman's Amusing Ourselves to Death. His taxonomy of how television mediates reality -- especially political reality -- is informed and thorough and should become the locus classicus on the subject. And his reflections on how the structure of television reality undercuts an open and organic view of society deserve a wide audience. To boot, the writing is clear, witty, evenhanded -- a good read.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A verbose, difficult read with a very complex argument., August 4, 2003

By 

"socrates_eight" (Lowell, MA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Sound Bite Society: Television and the American Mind (Hardcover)

Note: The original title of this book is "The Sound Bite Society: How Television Helps the Right and Hurts the Left".

If you drag your eyes through this read, keep a dictionary handy, as the author attemps to impress with lots and lots of obscure, big words. However, he makes a strong point, but his lack of passion shows. It reads like legaleese. Yes, it's a good book, but I can't recomend actually reading it unless you have a strong interest in the subject.

To sum up his points:

Television, as a media form, is inherently limited to oversimplification, polorization, and sensationalism.

Liberal ideology is complex and conservative ideology is much simpler.

Therefore, television, as a medium, is better suited to explain the simpler, "good/bad", "right/wrong" conservative viewpoints than the liberal counter-arguements because of it's inherent inability to properly communicate complexity.

I agree with many of his conclusions. I think that he's really nailed a good argument for a "conservative" media.

One good thing about this book is it's treatment of the conservative side, saying that conservatives should be proud of their simplicity, and giving a pretty honest and fair dipictment of conservativism. Not that conservatives will like this book, however. It's much too complex. In fact, if you read this, then read "Bias", by Bernard Goldberg, you'll see a large difference in the amount of complexity in the arguments.

To sum up the book in one sentance:
Conservatives have all the good sound bites.

2 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Guilt Tripping The American People Is The Only Real Answer, September 24, 2000

By 

David Thomson "Second Rate Eric Hoffer Imitator" (Houston, TX USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Sound Bite Society: Television and the American Mind (Hardcover)

It has been around eleven months since I wrote my Amazon community review of James Fallows', "Breaking the News: How the Media Undermine American Democracy." Regrettably, Jeffrey Scheuer shares Fallow's main fault: both men are reluctant in placing the primary blame squarely upon the shoulders of those mostly responsible for the deficiencies of the media---the American people. Scheuer and Fallows, at least tacitly, embrace the egalitarian notion that the vast majority of our fellow citizens must be perceived only as "victims." Conveniently overlooked is the cold fact that pertinent information and ideas of value are often relatively inexpensive, if not outright free. Most Americans are ignorant only because of outright laziness and indifference. The two authors have slipped into the bad habit of merely preaching to the choir. The people currently willing to pay attention to their observations are not those who need to be taken to task.

Am I saying that the typical American should be obsessed about politics? On the contrary, it would be a very unhealthy state of affairs if most people focussed exclusively upon the political issues of the day. I recall the story concerning a European visiting the United States during the Nixon Watergate crisis. This individual was flabbergasted when visiting a local bar to see that the patrons were watching a sports contest on TV, and nobody was apparently concerned about the upheaval taking place in Washington, D.C. Many other countries throughout the world would have experienced bloodshed in the streets. The laudable strength of our political system is that up to a point, most of us can ignore politics, and instead concentrate on other aspects of our everyday lives. A problem occurs, however, when few citizens invest sufficient time and energy in fulfilling their minimal intellectual duties. For the sake of the argument, I will concede every point that Jeffrey Scheuer makes in this book. A society easily seduced by sound bites is indeed flirting with danger. Watching too much TV, a very passive medium, probably does result in the deterioration of one's ability to think and follow a logical argument. Corporate domination of our sundry forms of mainstream media disturbs me to no end. Nevertheless, we live in the greatest nation ever conceived in human history. Is somebody pointing a gun at the heads of those who almost exclusively view professional wrestling and the freak show hosted by Jerry Springer? Isn't PBS available for free on standard TV? Aren't most of us able to visit a local library? Both Fallows and Scheuer deserve to have an audience for their valuable writings. I strongly recommend we take their sometimes debatable insights seriously. They have earned the right to a hearing and have much to share. Regretfully, though, I must proverbially slap them upside the head and point out that little good will be accomplished unless they are willing to guilt trip the majority of their fellow citizens.