I know this is little off topic, but I read an article today on Yahoo News about how broadcasters are beginning to worry about the number of ‘no TV’ homes there are in the United States. Apparently the number of homes without television reception of any kind (Cable, Satellite, even broadcast TV) has risen from 2 million in 2007 to 5 million today, and that this is a trend that has broadcasters concerned.
The reason I think this is a relevant discussion here is that I have a feeling (maybe unjustified) that people who are following the LENR story closely are not the kinds of people who are heavy consumers of TV programming. I haven’t had working TV reception of any kind in my home for probably 10 year or so and have seldom missed it. If I want to see a particular TV program I can usually find it somewhere on the internet.
I feel that television has been a huge factor in shaping the cultural climate of the world; TV programming drives a lot of trends and interests and helps shape public opinion in a wide variety of fields. In many ways, if something is not on TV, it doesn’t really matter that much — and of course cold fusion is one of those things we seldom hear about on television. It did have its day back in 1989, and it was the television coverage that both shot it to fame, and then infamy, and cold fusion has never really recovered.
The irony of it all is that proponents of LENR/CF are frustrated that there is little to no media coverage of the topic, and will likely be delighted to see it taken seriously on the BBC, CNN, ABC, etc. If it enters the public consciousness on a large scale through major media channels, then we will see the public debate heat begin in earnest. So although we live in the internet age, and I am quite happy to get my news from internet sites both large and obscure, it seems to me that the power of television is strong, and will probably remain so for quite a long time.
