ABSTRACT
There is a group of commentators on the ‘information society’ that, while conceding that there is a lot more information in circulation nowadays, is unenthusiastic about pronouncements of the ‘information age’. Such commentators tend to regard this information as being tainted, as having been interfered with by parties which have ‘managed’ its presentation, or which have ‘packaged’ it to ‘persuade’ people in favour of certain positions, or which have ‘manipulated’ it to serve their own ends, or which have produced it as a saleable commodity that is ‘entertaining’. These thinkers lean towards the view that the ‘information society’ is one in which advertising campaigns, the Defence Department’s ‘disinformation’ strategies, the public relations ‘expert’, the parliamentary ‘lobbyist’, the judicious ‘presenter’ of government policy, and the ‘official leak’ from ‘reliable sources’ close to the prime minister all play a disproportionate role in the creation and dissemination of information.
