Dick, in shape or out

Line-reader Richard Dreyfuss is "studying civics and democracy as a senior associate member at St Antony's College at the University of Oxford." So far, so good; he'll be as qualified to serve as secretary of state as Madeleine.

His big bugaboo? Doesn't like "shaped" news. His cure? Suppress it:

"The falling Twin Towers -- pictures that produced anger, a lot of anger that were sent instantly around the world, they created a need to react."

"People in Kansas could see the Twin Towers fall at exactly the same instant as in Nigeria and Cairo. Such an instantaneous knowledge of a situation leads to an instantaneous reaction which creates demand for an instantaneous, reflexive response.

"The question is how do you get people to find out more, how do you get people to read not just what they are told to read."

Yes, if only people had had time to think.