[Commenting on NBC-TV after the Carter-Ford presidential debate]
Why did Ms. Drew and Gannon and Reynolds [moderators of the presidential debate] look so much more impressive than the candidates? This is another medium trick. All those three sounded most authoritative and emphatic and they knew what they were talking about… I mean the way they delivered themselves. It was authoritative, emphatic, like a good advertisement. Whereas the candidates were groping around in the fog.
“The Medium Rebelled Against the Message.” Excerpt from conversation between MM and Tom Brokaw (on NBC’s Today Show, September 24), in The Washington Post, September 26, 1976, p C7.
Year: 1976
Chapter:
Politics and Government
Compiled by William Kuhns
© 2026, The Estate of Marshall McLuhan
© 2026, The Estate of Marshall McLuhan