Information and broadcast amplification neutralize the very events they extend.

Evidence

But it would be useful to posit the opposite hypothesis: INFORMATION = ENTROPY. For example: the information or knowledge that can be obtained about a system or an event is already a form of the neutralization and entropy of this system (to be extended to science in general, and to the social sciences and humanities in particular). Information in which an event is reflected or broadcast is already a degradedform of this event. … The extension of the student action permitted the general strike, but the latter was precisely a black box that neutralized the original virulence of the movement. Amplification was itself a mortal trap and not a positive extension. One should be wary of the universalization of struggles through information. — Jean Baudrillard, Simulacra and Simulation, 293

Categorization

• XREF: Inverts the cybernetic identification of information with negentropy; parallels Debord’s spectacle as neutralizing lived event, and contrasts with the liberal presumption that wider coverage = empowerment. — connects to: Information consistent with listeners’ expectations spreads while discrepant facts get suppressed — Roderick M. Kramer, Geoffrey J. Leonardelli, Robert W. Livingston, Social Cognition, Social Identity, and…, 1983; Events lacking significance can be magnified by the media. — Cohen, Stanley, Folk devils and moral panics: the…, 221; Information consistent with what recipients expect gets amplified while discrepant information gets dropped — Roderick M. Kramer, Geoffrey J. Leonardelli, Robert W. Livingston, Social Cognition, Social Identity, and…, 1983 (+1 more)
• QUESTION: Worth chasing: does Baudrillard’s INFORMATION = ENTROPY generalizable claim survive contact with actual media studies of May ‘68 effects, or is it purely rhetorical?

Broader Connections

• Events lacking significance can be magnified by the media. #corroborates (0.85) — Cohen, Stanley, Folk devils and moral panics, 221
• Information consistent with listeners’ expectations spreads while discrepant facts get suppressed #expands (0.80) — Roderick M. Kramer, Geoffrey J. Leonardelli, Robert W. Livingston, Social Cognition, Social Identity, and…, 1983
• Information consistent with what recipients expect gets amplified while discrepant information gets dropped #expands (0.80) — Roderick M. Kramer, Geoffrey J. Leonardelli, Robert W. Livingston, Social Cognition, Social Identity, and…, 1983
• The televised event supersedes and substitutes for the historical event it depicts #corroborates (0.80) — Jean Baudrillard, Simulacra and Simulation, 177