The death of democracy

“A democratic society depends upon an informed and educated citizenry.” —Thomas Jefferson, quoted today by Rogers Cadenhead.

The death of democracy is inextricably linked to the transformation of the news media from journalism into entertainment.

News as journalism seeks some approximation of 'the Truth', to inform and educate its public. As such, it must:

• Present a balanced viewpoint, including both sides of any issues covered.
• Cover (and emphasise) stories based on their overall importance to the target audience.
• Ask difficult questions of those in power, and demand answers.

Journalism as entertainment, on the other hand, has the sole aim of gathering, and keeping an audience, usually to funnel the audience to advertisers. As such, it must:

• Present a viewpoint that does not offend the opinions of its target audience.
• Cover (and emphasise) stories based on their immediate emotional impact on the audience.
• Ask only those questions sanctioned by those in power, so that they continue to favour your organization with appearances and information.

Of course, things were never as pure as the first list, neither are they now as corrupt as the second. My mother told me a frightening story last week about my uncle, who was a Fleet St editor, and quit the business because between the interests of the paper's conservative owners, and the threats of the socialist printing unions, he had very little leeway to report anything. Even given that, it's pretty clear that the world of the media has been sliding down the slope between the first and the second extremes for quite a while now.

As an aside, this is one reason weblogs aren't journalism. Weblogs present a single side of an issue (the author's), and cover stories based on the interests of the author. Since people gravitate to opinions that match their own, it is unlikely that a weblog will ever challenge your prejudices, or at least it is unlikely that you will read it again after it has. The one thing weblogs have been good at, is in asking questions that the mainstream media is no longer able to.

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