The speed of communications is wondrous to behold. It is also true that speed can multiply the distribution of information that we know to be untrue.
Interpretation
This quote highlights the impressive speed of communication while cautioning against the rapid spread of false information.
Edward R. Murrow remarks on the remarkable speed at which communication occurs in the modern world, emphasizing that while this ability can enhance the sharing of knowledge, it also poses the significant risk of propagating misinformation. In a time where messages can reach millions in an instant, the responsibility to critically assess the truthfulness of information becomes paramount.
In practice
In a speech about media literacy, one might quote Murrow to stress the importance of discerning truth from falsehood.
We have currently a built-in allergy to unpleasant or disturbing information. Our mass media reflect this. But unless we get up off our fat surpluses and recognize that television in the main is being used to distract, delude, amuse, and insulate us, then television and those who finance it, those who look at it, and those who work at it, may see a totally different picture too late.
Everyone is a prisoner of his own experiences. No one can eliminate prejudices - just recognize them.
One of the basic troubles with radio and television news is that both instruments have grown up as an incompatible combination of show business, advertising and news. Each of the three is a rather bizarre and demanding profession. And when you get all three under one roof, the dust never settles.
Speaking of Sir Winston Churchill: He mobilized the English language and sent it into battle.
We cannot defend freedom abroad by deserting it at home.
The best speakers know enough to be scared…the only difference between the pros and the novices is that the pros have trained the butterflies to fly in formation.
From the late 1940s, into and through the '50s, there developed a complex interaction between federal government, state and local government, real-estate interests, commercial interests and court decisions, which had the effect of undermining the mass transit system across the country.
Technology determines the possibilities of society. It doesn't matter whether you start out from a fascist state or a communist state or a free-market state
The perfect example of Darwinism is what technology has done to businesses.
Avoiding complexity reduces bugs.
We are not even close to finishing the basic dream of what the PC can be.
The social media platforms have taken over the distribution of news globally. They treat a lie the same way you would treat a fact.
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