Chapter 11 Mediums and Logic

Do you agree with Marshall McLuhan that the medium is the message, i.e. that the format or logic of a medium is as important as its content and, in fact, determines what content will be broadcast through that channel? Evaluate his idea that television is a cool medium.

I would have to say I feel lukewarm about McLuhan's thoughts on mediums being the actually messages. I would agree that the medium in which something is communicated by does play heavily into the way we see, hear and interpret the message. However, I disagree that the medium is actually the message itself.

I also agree that the medium is very important when choosing how to report news and information and every medium goes about it in a different way. According to the text print media uses linear logic because every word is carefully planned and one point leads to the next. Television on the contrary to print media takes the opposite approach in that it uses mosaic logic which means we are being bombarded with several images at once and we have to decipher them.

I found the explanations on hot and cool mediums a little bit puzzling. What I gained from McLuhan's writing is that on television people need to have cool tempers and be able to handle the intensity of the news on camera. Some people are not "cool" enough for television, so the text suggests radio would be a better fit.