Random reminder

Press, 20 September 1980, Page 26

Random reminder

TRANSCENDENTAL MEDITATION

In London (writes our own media rep., late of Barrington Street) the word “media” has come to have a new meaning distinct from its previous use as the plural of “medium.” A “media” (new sense) is any business from which advertising may be bought. A “medium” (old sense) continues to be something which carries information — newsprint or radio waves, certainly, but forked sticks, jungle tom-toms, a gypsy woman with a crystal ball, if you wish. “The Times” and the “Daily Mirror” use the same medium (old sense) but are quite different “medias” in the new sense. Media watchers will recall the recent siege of the Iranian Embassy and the violent end to it (in a quiet British ’ way, without a single helicopter exploding). Few, though, will have entirely understood just who

was demanding what, and exactly of whom. To clear up, or perhaps add to, the confusion at the time, certain journalists tracked down a scholar of Middle Eastern affairs who happened ro live not all that far from the Embassy. No, he hadn’t heard about the siegeYes, he would be happy to answer questions and help if he could. Yes, he would step outside and talk to ... to whom?

Talk to the media? I’m not quite sure what you want me to do, he quavered, winning instantly the hearts of sixty million viewers. “Media” was one of the autonomous provinces of the Assyrian Empire, about six hundred years 8.C., as in the phrase “The law of the Medes and Persians.” Is this some sort of new independence movement?