h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Thanks for the entry, enjoyed it very much. However, I think you missed out on one very important point. A couple of years back I temporarily lost my sight. Besides the obvious despair there was an immense feeling of alienation with other people caused by the fact I couldn't share their experiences. The only medium available to me was radio, and British radio is outstanding. I found myself far better informed on the news than I ever had been by television. For example, when there is the usual sabre-rattling with Iraq, television will fill out the item with American F-14's taking off from the Eisenhower. Radio has to tell you what is actually going on.
I found not being able to watch television put a huge distance between me and everybody else. Believe me, listening to a television programme is no good, you have to watch it to participate. There is a huge element of voyeurism involved with the media. Newspapers especially are obsessed with invading the private lives of individuals and television is going that way. Radio has little of this pursuit and one of the main reasons being is that a large part of their audience are blind. Blind people are not consumed with celebrity pictures, invasive stories and you can forget Big Brother. Compare The Archers to Eastenders and you will understand how much the visual will change the outcome.