Pipigluglus snoring

 
Column Nowadays, the mainstream media are filling us with gossip and simulated politics. The only thing that can help is media ecology. 
He looks at me in the rear-view mirror of his cab, leafing through a magazine on the passenger seat. Quick exchange of glances between the seat and the rear-view mirror. What's wrong? I'm not aware of any wrongdoing. I'm sober, combed (so far) and have enough money for the fare. Now he's holding up the advertising week: "You're the Fahrni!" A cyclist almost pays for this stunning realization with her life. "You advertisers have had better times," I say, irritated. He: "Driving a cab is quieter." After a while: "I have one question: what on earth is a media ecologist?" "Why a media ecologist?"
He hands the magazine to the back. Indeed. Under my portrait it says: "Media ecologist". I see.
Not a bad idea. But what is it? Ecologists demand that humans treat nature with care. Media ecologists, however, want people to treat nature with care.
"That's good," he says, "what next? What does a MediÖko do?" - Well, first of all, he refrains from doing a few things. For example, he ignores printed matter with titles like "nichts.ch", "19 Sekunden" or "vorgestern". He has given away the television.
"Isn't that a bit elitist?" - No, he's just conserving his scarce resources of time and attention. Because humans are a faulty construction. They react to stimuli. If they get too much of it, they first become animals, then children. In terms of media technology and the history of civilization, we have arrived at the Pipiglugluschnarch sequence. Totally infantilized, we no longer know anything about ourselves. Historians will one day write: After the Great Depression came the long phase of flat brain waves. What was once a human being degenerated into a consumer. The only wonder is that consumer hasn't long since become the ultimate swearword, a form of intensification: moron, idiot, consumer.
"But the information! What about the information"?
Where is that in the mainstream media? Media should actually serve the democratic empowerment of citizens, the self-observation of society, public control. Today, they fill us with gossip and simulated politics. Arena? An acute threat to democracy. A media ecologist has time and desire for the world. Of course, he reads the NZZ - some of the more interesting pieces. Also Le Temps. He also takes a quick look at the Tagi or a local paper over coffee in the pub. But he doesn't have to. He doesn't miss much. But he subscribes to various newsletters. BBC World Radio is his base. Radio in general! Certain blogs and websites. He brings interesting people into his home. He podcasts whatever is interesting on Arte or elsewhere. He is enrolled in chat groups. He learns from a blog that Blocher is planning a coup d'état the day after tomorrow at 4.30 p.m. And 56 other quality users have received the explosive news along with him. Where is the democracy conveyed by the media?
That is the crux of the matter. What would happen if the news were in the Bern newspaper today? Exactly. Media ecology can't just call for a gossip boycott - it has to create new media. Advertising-free local media, keenly investigative, in which citizens set the agenda. Public journalism. National weekly newspapers with eight pages and five excellently researched stories. Daily media dedicated only to relevance. Relevance is the lever of the matter: everyone craves enlightenment. Those who write relevant articles are read. We need blog lists and blog filters. New distribution channels. Cross-media. A self-critical debate about quality and publicity. "18 francs 30," says the advertiser at the wheel, "brainstorming is on the house."
> Oliver Fahrni is a freelance journalist and media ecologist.