The Mass Media and Modern Democracy.

Do modern political journalism and mass media really contribute to the education of American citizens? What can (or should) we expect from the mass media? Recently intensified conflict between the news media and the government has stimulated an extensive debate between critics and defenders of the media in the United States. This group of essays explores some of the basic issues of that debate, particularly issues concerning the character of modern political journalism and its relation to our democracy. The essays are analytic and controversial; they are systematic arguments representing different points of view. The questions they address concern the strengths and weakness of modern political journalism and the media, and their effects upon the health of our constitutional democracy.
The essays in this volume were prepared as part of the program of the Public Affairs Conference Center at Kenyon College, Gambier, Ohio. Library of Congress Number: 73-21349