At Last A Beginning

At last it’s happening—a growing national discussion about how America’s news and information “industry” is failing to nourish our civic dialogue. It should be something we expect the candidates to discuss—and take a stand on—as the 2020 election campaigns ramp up. That’s because none of the many issues that voters care about will ever be successfully resolved until media get their act together and realize that without an informed citizenry, self-government cannot sustain itself—not on the nutrition-free diet of infotainment and opinion-shouting we are being served. Understand this: Big Media’s business model is based on the premise that you and I are not citizens to be informed; rather, we are products to be sold to advertisers.  And it’s going like gangbusters for them. So, let's make it an issue for 2020. Let’s ask the candidates where they stand—the Presidential contenders, of course, but Congressional, state, and local aspirants, too, because decisions affecting our media are being made at all these levels.