Kicking television

Ken Dryden laments for the squawk box.

“When interaction is based on punchlines, we get nowhere,” Dryden says. He cites the example of the political panels on TV, in which partisans are seen to excel if they hold their ground and repeat their talking points until the segment is over.

“The only meaning that comes across is the conflict. What’s the message of that five-minute interaction between five people? It doesn’t have to do with the subject; it has to do with the conflict.”