by Robert Bertram

Created on: November 01, 2009   Last Updated: November 02, 2009

The question of, 'is the media failing democracy', is the wrong thing to ask. We in the United States do not live in a democracy, we live in a Representative republic. The media is failing itself by being obviously biased (and this is true for both sides). The viewer-ship of broadcast news is in a tailspin that it may not be able to recover from.

If the media, and I mean news not movies, can get back to reporting and not spinning for a particular agenda, then people will start watching again. Newspapers are dying all across the country, television news has given up on the idea of profitability and I'm not sure they see the reason.

OK I lied, I see the reason profits are evil in their view and the agenda is more important than the truth. Their problem is that the American people who pay attention, see what they are up to.

There was for the longest time in this country a large group of people who didn't care to or just wouldn't pay attention to the day to day workings of our government. They might watch the evening news and take everything that was said as the gospel truth. However, the lies have gotten so obvious and unbelievable, that many people who were complacent have started to pay attention.

This is ultimately good for our country, as an informed electorate will do more to empower themselves and not allow the government to bloat itself further, and as a result erode our freedoms. So I say that the media is shooting itself in the foot but in reality doing a great service to our republic.

The founding fathers saw the press as a valuable check on the power of govenment. That is why the first amendment to the constitution protects the press from abuse by the government. I am sure they did not anticipate an erosion from the inside by a "fifth column" however.

Remember the constitution was written as a limit to government, not as a list of your freedoms. They feared a too powerful govenment and were sure that the press would be able to keep the public informed so as to shake up an out of control government at the next elecion cycle. Of course I mean local elections and the house of representatives, as we were never supposed to vote for the senate or the president.

Learn more about this author, Robert Bertram.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.