“Tell him what happened to the television and newspapers, Prof. Remember those old things?” came a male voice from somewhere in the crowd.
“Yes indeed, oh the doom and gloom in the media. The newspapers, hahahaha. They were made of paper then. Most of them were full of dreadful stories. Same with the television, that was the early version of the Screen, young lad, you’ve seen them in museums I presume. Everyone got used to seeing the world as a dangerous place full of killings and horror stories. It was sensationalized, with little to balance it. And so much so-called entertainment was based on fighting, killing and hurting. We had become immune to it. The constant bombardment of the images had desensitized us to horrors.”
“Remember the silly dramas on the old television Prof?” called out a large woman with brightly colored hair. “All that rubbish about rich people with all their dramas and tragedies, sobbing and yelling?”
“And the reality shows, they used to call them,” another voice in the crowd piped up. “That was a reality that everyone wanted to avoid. Most of the time everyone was horrible to each other.” The crowd nodded in agreement.
“Yes, indeed, friends. Thankfully the media changed for the better,” said the Professor as he launched once more into historical mode.
“The son of a media magnate, Jordan Freitas, took over his crotchety old father’s role as head of a huge and powerful media corporation. It was seen as a strange choice, as the son was completely inexperienced in the world of media. But his father had been very insistent, and in his last days had drawn up legal papers to give Jordan full control.
“Without any knowledge of how any of it worked, Jordan was completely out of his depth. So, he decided to do something totally different. His father had been known for defaming people, spreading rumors, portraying one side of a cause, generally creating trouble. But for all his father’s wealth and extravagance, Jordan had been by his father’s bedside at the end and had seen that in his last moments he was tormented by guilt. Jordan had a chance to do it differently.”