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The psychologist Philip Fernbach said one of the most pressing problems facing public discourse, one only exacerbated by the information age, is the growing gap between what people think they know and what they actually know. (In fact, people have been shown to mistake what they can Google for their own knowledge.) In the next stage of its... See more

All journalism should be service journalism

The hijackers, Democrats and Republicans alike, have acted as if the idea that self-government depends on people being able to count on independent providers of information is a quaint relic and that the new media channels present new opportunities that creative political operatives must seize.

Steven Brill • The Death of Truth

On firehoses and filters: Part 1

JP Rangaswami confusedofcalcutta.com

Social media flattened the relationship between the elites and everyone else — it gave the public a voice. When JFK would give a speech, he was uncontested. Now, with everyone transitioning from a passive reader to a veritable journalist, every statement is challenged. A journalist, instead of being the sole arbiter of truth, is now just another... See more

Erik Torenberg • How the Internet Ate Media

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Financial Times ft.com

We hold that democracy demands equal access to goods, services, and knowledge. The culture of knowledge in America has been a servant of democratic governance. This instrumental view of knowledge meant that three principles would become fundamental to American-style democracy: The press must be free, the government must be open and accountable to

Abby Smith Rumsey • When We Are No More: How Digital Memory Is Shaping Our Future

The problem is not that television presents us with entertaining subject matter but that all subject matter is presented as entertaining, which is another issue altogether.

Neil Postman • Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business

From a Ted Koppel interview in Frontline: News War: To the extent that we're now judging journalism by the same standards that we apply to entertainment — in other words, give the public what it wants, not necessarily what it ought to hear, what it ought to see, what it needs, but what it wants — that may prove to be... See more

His questions can be asked about all technologies and media. What happens to us when we become infatuated with and then seduced by them? Do they free us or imprison us? Do they improve or degrade democracy? Do they make our leaders more accountable or less so? Our system more transparent or less so? Do they make us better citizens or better