Broadcasting and schizophrenia

Santa Fe, New Mexico to put a temporary restraining order on the television talk show host David Letterman that would require him to stay at least three yards from her at all times. She blamed Letterman for mental cruelty and for causing her sleep deprivation and bankruptcy over a 10-year period. As Nestler explained in a somewhat disordered statement, she began sending him ‘thoughts of love ’ when his show moved to CBS in 1993, and he responded ‘in code words & obvious indications through jestures [sic] and eye expressions’. At one point he even asked her to marry him in a promotional spot saying, ‘Marry me Oprah. ’ ‘Oprah had become my first of many code names’, she explained. ‘As time passed, the code-vocabulary increased & changed, but in the beginning things like “C ” on baseball caps referred to me, and specific messages through songs sung by his guests, were the beginnings of what became an elaborate means of communication between he and myself ’ (Auslander, 2005). Letterman’s exasperated attorneys responded that he had never even met Nestler and had already had enough trouble from stalker fans, including one who tried to kidnap his child. This passing incident (the judge soon rescinded the order after widespread derision) raises a number of questions about the communicative form of broadcasting and its relation to everyday life. What would a restraining order on an electronic proxy look like?What would ‘three yards’mean for someone on air? Can we even use the term ‘relationship ’ for the one-sided bond between fan and celebrity? What kind of communication system allows for