Who Deliberates?: Mass Media in Modern Democracy

by Benjamin I. Page

Public deliberation is essential to democracy, but the public can be fooled as well as enlightened. In three case studies of media coverage in the 1990s, Benjamin Page explores the role of the press in structuring political discussion.

Page shows how the New York Times presented a restricted set of opinions on whether to go to war with Iraq, shutting out discussion of compromises favored by many Americans. He then examines the media's...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0226644731
• ISBN13: 9780226644738
• Release Date: June 1996
• Publisher: University of Chicago Press
• Length: 178 Pages
• Weight: 0.55 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 5.5" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

Mass Media vs. Ordinary Citizens?

Page dissertates that public deliberation is highly mediated, a process through which most citizens formulate their political ideas and information. Thus, professional communicators dictate, in a sense, the ideas and information which they want ordinary citizens to believe as their own. Page also shows that this process will continue, unless a public issue arises that affects the mass of ordinary citizens so personally, that direct democracy overrides represented officials and media elite.Case 3, Zoe Baird, Nannies, and Talk Radio, somewhat discounts Page's dissertation that most citizens formulate their ideas and information from professional communicators. Case #3 is a classic example of direct democracy and success for the ordinary citizen. Masses of American citizens voiced their disapproval to public representatives. The response was so overwhelming that public representatives felt obligated to request that Baird not be appointed.This issue affected the 'ordinary citizen' in such a negative personal way that outrage resulted in Hometown, USA, and 'trickled' up to those elected leaders of the country. It is possible that the ordinary citizen is so far removed from the lifestyles, values, and conduct of professional communicators, public officials, and media elite that unconscious behavior [as represented by Baird] usually goes unnoticed by the ordinary citizen. It is possible that the 'elite', as represented by public officials and media, are so far removed from the ordinary citizen that they are not actually representing the American people. This is evident in the somewhat passive acceptance of mass media reporting.Public outrages are rare. It seems to be that the only time there are public outrages is when something occurs that affects the ordinary citizen personally, or that the ordinary citizen can relate to on a personal level. This is evident in the Los Angeles riots, the Zoe Baird case, and, most recently, the Elian Gonzalez issue.