Optimists cheer the potential of the new electronic media … Individual citizens will be empowered to communicate directly with their leaders, express their own opinions, ask their own questions, and ultimately make their own judgments about laws, policies, and affairs of the the state … Pessimists see the dire consequences for the future of democracy in an electronic republic. They distrust the judgment of the people at large who, as James Madison suggests, are too easily “misled by the artful representations of interested men” and “overcome by irregular passion.” These pessimists conjure up images of rule by an ignorant, ill-informed majority, poorly served by “the degrading effects of the triviality, banality and vulgarity” of television … Another group of critics fears that the inordinate power of a rich and privileged few … In place of democratic pluralism, they argue, we have a dominant telecommunications industry, owned and controlled by a shrinking oligopoly of powerful corporate interests, gatekeepers to the flow of ideas and information.
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: ”Should we be optimistic of pessimistic about the prospects for democracy in the electronic republic of the century ahead? Optimists cheer the potential of the new electronic media to shift citizens from the passive voice of listeners to the active role of participants and decision makers. Many people tout the new interactive telecommunications technologies as instruments that will speed the world on its journey to more freedom for more people, giving members of the public a greater say in the major decisions that will affect their lives. Cheap telecommunications and cheap computers, it is said, will convert the United States into a vast electronic agora, ‘an Athens without slaves.’ Individual citizens will be empowered to communicate directly with their leaders, express their own opinions, ask their own questions, and ultimately make their own judgments about laws, policies, and affairs of the the state … Pessimists see the dire consequences for the future of democracy in an electronic republic. They distrust the judgment of the people at large who, as James Madison suggests, are too easily ‘misled by the artful representations of interested men’ and ‘overcome by irregular passion.’ These pessimists conjure up images of rule by an ignorant, ill-informed majority, poorly served by ‘the degrading effects of the triviality, banality and vulgarity’ of television … Another group of critics fears that the inordinate power of a rich and privileged few – especially those who own the highly concentrated, increasingly influential telecommunications media – can dominate the debate, influence the views of the many, and manipulate public opinion. In place of democratic pluralism, they argue, we have a dominant telecommunications industry, owned and controlled by a shrinking oligopoly of powerful corporate interests, gatekeepers to the flow of ideas and information.”
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: Chapter 8: The Perils and Promise of the Electronic Republic
Quote Type: Direct quote
Page number or URL of document at time of study:
Pages 165-172
This data was logged into the Elon/Pew Predictions Database by: Guarino, Jennifer Anne