"Democracy dies in darkness" is fundamentally true: it's a regulatory system, a basic feedback loop where people elect representatives, observe what happens, th

"Democracy dies in darkness" is fundamentally true: it's a regulatory system, a basic feedback loop where people elect representatives, observe what happens, then possibly make changes if they don't like what they are seeing. Take out any element, and the circuit is incomplete. The media is what provides the feedback. Without it, it breaks in the same way your home's temperature will get out of control if the thermometer is broken. The effect that just seeing some crime stories on TV makes people believe crime is everywhere is probably overrated. As is the believe that "the media" is oh so terrible today and was so much better in some unspecified golden age. > We see it in survey after survey that the more ‘news’ media you consume the less you are in line with understanding what is actually happening. Yeah, that doesn't seem plausible. I can't even say what "understanding what is actually happening" is supposed to mean? I guess you have some grand theory of what's really happening that they don't want you to know. (ps: I know "long trail events" sound so much smarter than "rare". But it's "long tail")