A Whale Of A Minow Poem by Donal Mahoney

In 1961, Newton Minow said
television is a vast wasteland.
I was reading four papers a day then
and seldom watched television,
had no opinion on what he said.

In that same speech, Minow added
"when television is good, nothing—
not the theater, not the magazines
or newspapers—nothing is better.
But when television is bad,
nothing is worse."

Today newspapers are dying.
Magazines and books are in the ICU
and although television has hurt print
the Internet and Twitter haven't helped.
If Minow were here today, what might he
say about the Internet and Twitter.