Pew Research Center: The New Face of Washington's Press Corps - The Diigo Meta page

• 13 Feb 09
  

  Clay Burell

  media politics

  • But as the mainstream media have shrunk, a new sector of niche media has grown in its place, offering more specialized and detailed information than the general media to smaller, elite audiences, often built around narrowly targeted financial, lobbying and political interests. Some of these niche outlets are financed by an economic model of high-priced subscriptions, others by image advertising from big companies like defense contractors, oil companies and mobile phone alliances trying to influence policy makers.
  • Collectively, the implications of these changes are considerable. For those who participate in the American democracy, the "balance of information" has been tilted away from voters along Main Streets thousands of miles away to issue-based groups that jostle for influence daily in the corridors of power.
  • 1 more annotations...
  • • As New York Times Washington Bureau Chief Dean Baquet put it, "It concentrates knowledge in the hands of those who want to influence votes. It means [for example] the lobbyist knows more about Senator [Richard] Shelby than the people of Alabama. That's not good for democracy."

Would you like to comment?

Join Diigo for a free account, or sign in if you are already a member.