MCLUHAN: I think that is one of the functions of news, to blow up a storm so big that you can dissipate it by coverage. It's a way of getting rid of the pressure by coverage, that you can actually dissipate a situation by giving it maximal coverage. It’s very disappointing from one angle, but it's survival from another.
SNYDER: Now don't you get into alarming people?
MCLUHAN: That's done by, not by coverage, hints, suggestions. But the big coverage merely enables people to get together and enjoy a sort of a group emotion. It's like being at a ball game, a big group emotion. But I d o think that that taught me that one of the mysteries of coverage is that it's a way of releasing tension and pressure, and that storm was doomed as soon as it got all that coverage.