Part II: Do the Media Serve Democracy?
How well do the news media serve democracy? This is one of the most important, controversial, and difficult questions about the media today. Part of what makes it a hard question is it depends on how you understand democracy, and how you understand democracy depends on how you understand the "public."
Read the rest of Chapter 12 of MediaMaking (pp. 337-356), and pay particular attention to how people actually get information (or not) about political candidates.
Next, read Chapter 13 of MediaMaking, titled "The Media and the Public" (pp. 357-374). What are some different definitions of the public? Why do some say the public is in decline? What are the different ways of representing the public?
Next, read Prof. Jay Rosen's "A Politics that is Dumber Than Spam" -- a sharp criticism of mainstream news reporting of Presidential campaigns. What are Rosen's main points? Do you agree or disagree?
Post at least twice to the discussion list on the readings no later than midnight, June 7th.