In 1776, there were 26 newspapers for thirteen colonies. Today five news conglomerates own all the newspapers and media outlets for fifty states. We're getting canned news, the same AP article is on the computer news, in the newspaper and aired on the local news stations. News today has been turned into a litany of tragedy and we're the voyeurs watching.James Madison said "A popular government without popular information or the means of acquiring it, is but a prologue to a Farce or a Tragedy, or perhaps both. Knowledge will forever govern ignorance, and a people who mean to be their own governors must arm themselves with the power knowledge gives".
Alexis de Toqueville said in his classic "Democracy in America" that in America "there is a general distaste for accepting any man’s words as proof of anything". We are not being empowered with the knowledge that a healthy democracy requires nor are we demanding it. We have less information about the politicians who run our government and take more people at their word, the complete opposite of the way it was at the nation's founding. After all, if it's on Fox News it must be the gospel truth.
Henry Adams grandson and great grandson of presidents said "power is poison". Corporations own and have the power over our media. They have poisoned the air waves to instill their propaganda; that the media is controlled by liberals. Since when are corporations liberal?
Complex times require simplistic answers, blaming the liberals for the failures of the media is easy and keeps us divided with misinformation delivered with inflammatory tactics. This division diverts the attention on the true culprits, rich corporations along with the FCC who changed the rules on monopolization of media outlets, so the few can own the many.
The American way is to always question everything and to look for the story behind the story, which we're not doing. The founders knew full well that governments are not to be trusted as they are the depository of power and contain the seeds of despotism. That's why a free and ubiquitous press is essential for a well informed citizenry to prevent the tyranny of the minority.
