Brooke Gladstone

I saw a presentation this morning from Brooke Gladstone, author of The Influencing Machine, and host of NPR's On the Media, my second favorite NPR show. (my first being Wait Wait Don't Tell Me). The Influencing Machine is a graphic novel depicting both the history of the media and Gladstone's assertion that the media is not outside our control.
Brooke Gladstone started off her talk by affirming her love for librarians saying that we are the "general practitioners of our culture" and that we are the main defenders of free speech. After mentioning that her book came as a result of 20 years of covering the media, that it also fulfilled her dream of becoming a comic book character.
A couple of points that she mentioned are that objectivity is impossible that one can not completely clear her mind when covering a story but rather can not let the bias get in the way. She talked about whether technology is contributing to the downfall of society and media and said that just because some technology is different doesn't mean that it's bad. She joked people think that any technology that comes out after they turn 45 is the sign of the apocalypse. She concluded with "don't fear the future" but rather "embrace the ride".
Gladstone then answered several questions including one of mine! (I was a little nervous and made up a new word in my question. I meant to say, "ad nauseam" and said "ignauseam") I mentioned that the mainstream media gets criticized for over covering news stories that may not be so important (such as the royal wedding or the Casey Anthony trial), and I wondered if they were covered because that's what people wanted, or if people were interested in them because of the amount of coverage. (The main one which comes to my mind is the media's handling of the death of Anna Nicole Smith). She said that those stories are "cheap" and that it does fit in with giving what they want or giving them what they need.
It was a fun talk and I got a book signed too!