Max Headroom

In class we discussed the three types/ classifications of media messages; information based, entertainment based, and advertising based. We discussed how sometimes a message can represent more than one or even all three. (The line is blurred between the three types.) I thought this was an interesting topic of media literacy presented in the Max Headroom episode.
The show was based around a news station. Many people would automatically think that this meant the messages being exposed to the public were information based messages. However, this episode of Max Headroom proved that even with news the line is blurred between information and entertainment based messages. There was a quote from the episode that made this concept stand out.
Edison Carter said, “Since when has news been entertainment?” He was answered by his friend with the mustache, “Since it began.”
The whole episode was based around the idea of “sweeps” and the competition for rates and viewers between two different news stations. The one news station was not reporting true news. The stories the news station was reporting were staged and planned out. The episode shows that even the news can sometimes trap us and give us a false sense of being informed.