Lipperman Case
Essay Preview: Lipperman Case
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Lippman viewed democracy as a utopian process in which people cast their opinions based on clear, untainted information provided to them by a free press. He believed in the notion of an omnicompetent citizen who could process information without relating it to any experience that he/she might have undergone. Extending his notion that people act from the pictures they have in their heads he claims democracy is a form of popular government elected by a public, whose opinion has been formed by stereotyping, prejudices and propaganda created by the media. He inferred: “as there are built in limitations of the press and even of the popular mind it is no longer possible to believe in the original dogma of democracy that said that knowledge needed for the management of human affairs comes spontaneously from the human heart.” (Lippman 1922) He said democracy would work only if people escaped from an intolerable, an unworkable fiction that each of us must acquire a competent opinion of public affairs that shape true and unbiased public opinion comprising omnicompetent citizens. I believe his model is one that may capture many of the unstated assumptions that the media plays a role in the democratic process. A media person should be responsible and competent to translate complex facts and issues in a language understood by the masses. A reporter should be able to sift facts from spin-doctored accounts hence providing people with an expert opinion.
It is well known that political leaders are becoming experts at exploiting the media for their use. Franklin Roosevelt employed the radio successfully and JFK used the TV. We have taken frog leaps in the field of technology and are witnessing what I term as the “Information Revolution.” For a majority of Americans, politics today is synonymous with media coverage. Conventional media audiences do show a high level of media literacy, which is only fueled by the advent of the Internet. The Internet is crucial as it is unregulated and uncensored. It is also a personal medium, which is affordable. There is something for everyone! Hence these factors make it an excellent medium for leveling the political field and for people to express. E.g. Senator John McCain used the Internet to design competitive political campaigns. Although he lost he did make his campaign more competitive. On the net you can post your opinion and seek any kind of information. It could be a potent tool for democratic growth, as people would have access to different types of information. E.g. a google search would provide information reflecting both sides of the coin as opposed to one side as searches on the Internet will provide everything related to the key word we keyed in. So even if people are not actively seeking information they will get it. In this way it could actually lead to an increase in Lippmans notion of the omnicompetent citizen and an unbiased public opinion. On the other hand I feel that many areas