The prediction, in brief:

We need to recognize the remarkable change that the interactive telecommunications age is producing in our political system. We need to understand the consequences of the march toward democratization. We need to deal with the promise and perils of the electronic republic. It can make government intensely responsive to the people. It can also carry responsiveness to an extreme, opening the way for manipulation, demagoguery or tyranny of the majority … In the coming era, the qualities of citizenship will be at least as important as those of political leadership. In an electronic republic, it will be essential to look at politics from the bottom up as well as from the top down.

Predictor: Grossman, Lawrence K.

Prediction, in context:

In his 1995 book “The Electronic Republic: Reshaping Democracy in the Information Age,” Lawrence Grossman, former president of NBC News and PBS, writes:”We need to recognize the remarkable change that the interactive telecommunications age is producing in our political system. We need to understand the consequences of the march toward democratization. We need to deal with the promise and perils of the electronic republic. It can make government intensely responsive to the people. It can also carry responsiveness to an extreme, opening the way for manipulation, demagoguery or tyranny of the majority … In the coming era, the qualities of citizenship will be at least as important as those of political leadership. In an electronic republic, it will be essential to look at politics from the bottom up as well as from the top down.”

Biography:

Lawrence Grossman wrote the book “The Electronic Republic: Reshaping Democracy in an Information Age” (Penguin, 1995). The former executive at NBC and PBS urged people to realize that digital communications had altered how things can and should be done. (Author/Editor/Journalist.)

Date of prediction: January 1, 1995

Topic of prediction: Global Relationships/Politics

Subtopic: Democracy

Name of publication: The Electronic Republic (book)

Title, headline, chapter name: Introduction

Quote Type: Direct quote

Page number or URL of document at time of study:
Pages 6, 7

This data was logged into the Elon/Pew Predictions Database by: Guarino, Jennifer Anne