The Fundamental Role of Media in a Democracy

Received a piece from a friend the other day that was attributed to Jay Leno. In the piece, the reported dissatisfaction of American’s with the Bush administration is attributed solely to negative reporting by the media. The piece goes on to discuss, in some detail, those aspects of American society that are good. It then concludes that because the media does not cherish these fine attributes, Americans are: “are the largest group of ungrateful, spoiled brats the world has ever seen.”

To me, if the piece was actually written or, even .presented by Leno, then it proves that you need neither knowledge nor insight to be successful as an entertainer. To blame the public’s dissatisfaction with the current Administration on the negative focus of reportage by the media, is not only puerile, it demonstrates an abysmal ignorance of what a democracy is and the fundamental necessity of reporting in a democracy.

The United States is a democracy. Since the ancient Greeks who invented the democratic form of government, the essence of a democracy has not been merely a political goal or structure, but, a social process. The purpose of the process is to provide the greatest individual freedom while promoting the highest standard of living for the greatest number of individuals within the society. The process is, by definition, self regulating and self enhancing. That is, the individual members of the democratic society collectively derive a consensus on what changes are needed to improve their society. By simple exclusion resulting from natural selection, the consensus for change focuses on those aspects of the society that need improvement, and which, when improved, advance the process toward perfection for all. The role of media is to report and discuss those aspects in need of improvement so that a consensus can form. By definition, those aspects of a democratic society that are satisfactory to the franchised majority, need not be reported or discussed.


This leads to some interesting anomalies. In American history, a consensus of Northern voters felt very strongly about freeing the slaves. A consensus of Southern voters felt equally strong about retaining slavery. The two conflicting consensuses were resolved only by war. The ancient Greeks, had no such problem. The democratic Greek city states functioned very nicely founded on slavery.

In closing, we have a word for media reporting that focuses primarily on the positive rather than negative aspects of the national situation. It’s called propaganda, and is generally treated with distrust.