By Michael Harrison
TALKERS
Publisher
Welcome to 2025… TALKERS 35th year! Everything seems to be moving faster and faster as we hurtle deeper into the 21st century and what is turning out to be a “brave new world” even for Gen-Z. Each year at this time, I am invariably asked by broadcasters, reporters, and friends, “What do you think we’ll be talking about in the new year ahead?” And each year I give the same answer: THE UNEXPECTED.
No doubt, there will be a continuation of the talk show “hit” topics. Anyone can predict that. But every year – and certainly within the four-year cycle of new presidential administrations – completely unexpected things happen to turn the focus of conversation on its ear and banish our content obsessions instantaneously obsolete.
It is unwise and counterproductive for media practitioners in the business of sharing opinion and seeking truth to become overly “invested” in the tenets, issues and theories that brought us to this point. For example, the science establishment (in both academia and media) is currently going through conniptions dealing with the growing possibility that the amazing James Webb Space Telescope is making a growing case for the possibility that they’ve been WRONG about the Big Bang, the age of the universe, String Theory and all kinds of notions that generate grant money and upon which reputations have been built for the past century!
Short term memory and shrinking attention spans collectively contribute to increasingly fuzzy long-distance viewing. You don’t hear much talk about “futurism” anymore. Our society’s inability to track even recent events (let alone long-term actual history) deteriorates its ability to envision analysis, causes, and effects too far forward. Dimness goes in both directions.
Happy New Year. Be prepared!
Michael Harrison is the publisher of TALKERS. He can be reached via email at michael@talkers.com or 413-565-5413.