Michael Copps

A major victim of our changed and monopolized media environment is journalism itself. Its diminished state leads to a fundamental question: do journalists have a responsibility, or even a right, to work for change in that environment?

“Dollarocracy”—rule by the dollar—what a great and telling name for a shrinking American democracy that every day loses ground to the command-and-control of unchecked money. Somebody ought to write a book based on the idea.

It’s a sad commentary on the state of our public discourse that clever misnaming of issues can totally recast what should be substantive policy discussions. The most obvious example: adding the suffix “gate” onto anything that smacks of real or alleged political wrong-doing in the wake of Richard Nixon’s Watergate is usually sufficient to muddy the waters beyond all reality; often it demolishes any chance for serious debate. Remember Billygate, NannyGate, CoinGate, CableGate and all the rest?

I’ve spent a lot of time on the road these past six months, talking with people coast-to-coast, with lots of stops in between. I’ve been to large cities and small towns, colleges and community halls, red states and blue, talking about communications and how our current news and information infrastructure is disserving democracy.

Life on the Cliff

We begin the new year with a public totally turned off by Capitol Hill’s embarrassing holiday antics over the fiscal cliff. Sadder still, more cliffs are on the way. It is difficult to see how Congress will find time for anything other than debt limit extensions, budget sequesters, continuing resolutions, government shut-downs and other assorted near-death experiences in the year ahead. We could be free-falling off cliffs all year long! It’s actually worse than being on a roller-coaster, because a roller-coaster goes up as well as down.