Instead of ascending to a higher, more responsible level of information, the still critically important mainstream media are ratcheting down their standards to the lowest, most instantly accessible level of sensationalism and scandal. For an electronic republic, in which citizens have the capability to participate directly in making the day-to-day decisions of government, this is an especially precarious and menacing problem … If our thesis is correct, that an electronic republic opens the way for the public at large to become the actual fourth branch of government, then it is essential that urgent steps be taken to improve the quality of citizen deliberation in the public sphere.
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: ”Instead of ascending to a higher, more responsible level of information, the still critically important mainstream media are ratcheting down their standards to the lowest, most instantly accessible level of sensationalism and scandal. For an electronic republic, in which citizens have the capability to participate directly in making the day-to-day decisions of government, this is an especially precarious and menacing problem … If our thesis is correct, that an electronic republic opens the way for the public at large to become the actual fourth branch of government, then it is essential that urgent steps be taken to improve the quality of citizen deliberation in the public sphere.”
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: Government
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 188, 189
This data was logged into the Elon/Pew Predictions Database by: Guarino, Jennifer Anne