"Nothing Between"

In my last post, I rambled with an extended metaphor about how the Media are channels between the "out there" and the "here" for us, the consumers of messages that flow through them. Obviously, I left out a lot of detail and smushed some ideas so as to fit into that conceit.
That's what we do. Every message, every perception we humans log is filtered before it gets perceived by our minds, let alone logged into our memory banks. And don't get me started on the challenge of accurately retrieving those memories!
The myth of "immediacy" lures us into thinking that if I see it "live" I am right there seeing it as it really happens. Bosh.
For one thing, there is a seven-second delay in the "live" feed that allows the Studio Editor to cut or bleep any content that violates FCC regulations.( Not all Authority is a bad thing). Some would argue that falsifies reality. That brings us to the Internet and "uncensored" streaming content.
But there is a selectivity principle at work here. "Hot" news leads, and boring everyday stuff ends up on the cutting room floor. Sexy sites pass on wholesome content unless they can show it in a sexy way for their audience. Every source has a voice: not every voice gets heard. What were they doing just before they went to the live podcast? Were they paid to stage this "punking? Did some starlet's agent arrange this escapade? "No such thing as bad publicity" is the credo of the PR department.
Spontaneous opinions and interviews on news programs with the makers of new products, happy talk about a local bakery, coverage of Santa base jumping from Sears tower--all these events happen in a "See it now" format. What does this do for our trust in the messenger--and the message?
Haste in reporting the latest buzz also makes a waste of time for the media-sated audience. When something really is happening, how do we discern if it is a real event?
September 11, 2001 was a sequence of images that many thought at first was a clip from some disaster movie--until we realized it was actually happening. President Bush wasn't the only one who sat in puzzled silence for moments before realizing a crisis had really emerged.
When we are bombarded with "immediate" flashes of pseudonews, are we becoming impaired at recognizing--and responding--to true needs?
Just asking.