BROOKE GLADSTONE: Last week, a catastrophic earthquake in Iran; a fatal earthquake and mudslide in California; a deadly avalanche in Utah, and finally, on Tuesday, reports of a landslide of sorts in the Bronx. The victim was Patrice Moore, trapped for two days under a pile of magazines, newspapers, catalogs and books crammed into a 10 by 10 room. Moore was buried up to his neck in fine publications amassed over a decade, including Sports Illustrated, Vibe, In Style, Ebony, Sound & Vision, Fitness, Scuba Diving and The Harvard Business Review.
Moore's is one of those there-but-for-the-grace-of-God-go-I sorts of stories. Who among us has not gazed wearily on their own growing pile of unread high-quality journalism heaped by the bed and in the bathroom, balanced precariously on every surface and not sigh, "Life is too short for The New Yorker."
Now, obviously, Moore has an illness, and it very nearly killed him. But media immersion, even on a smaller, metaphorical scale can be risky, and I think you know who you are.
Moore's disaster may even suggest a novel New Year's resolution: for the love of God, cut back. Or-- you could take Moore's suggestion, keeping in mind that he is a very sick man. "The problem was," he told a reporter, "I never got a storage space." [MUSIC]

BOB GARFIELD: Coming up, infomercials begin a long, slow slide into TV oblivion, while public relations stays forever young.

BROOKE GLADSTONE: This is On the Media, from NPR.