PERSPECTIVES ON POLITICAL SCIENCE 2017, VOL. 46, NO. 4, 257–269 https://doi.org/10.1080/10457097.2016.1190600

ARTICLE A Bible, an Ax, and a Tablet: Tocqueville’s Newspapers and Everyday Political Discourse

Thomas David Bunting University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, Wisconsin, USA

ABSTRACT The relationship between the free press and democracy is at the core of much modern political theory. With the advent of digital media and the decline of newspapers, there is a need to reexamine this relationship. Tocqueville was an astute observer of the importance of newspapers to democratic life and the drawbacks of the medium. This article examines the central features of Tocqueville’s view of newspapers, the issues he saw with the tone of newspapers in Jacksonian America, and the value of newspapers. I argue that this analysis shows the importance of a free press to democratic life but that digital media often lacks the local element that Tocqueville saw as an essential feature of newspapers, and this deficiency is problematic for maintaining democratic liberty.

Introduction given the close relationship Tocqueville outlines between newspapers and associational life and the plentiful litera- It is long established that a free press is central to demo- ture that focuses on associations in his thought.6 In other cratic liberty. From Hamilton in Federalist 84, to J. S. words, much has been written about Tocqueville and Mill in the mid-nineteenth century, to contemporary associations, but very little has been written about the scholars, such as Bennett and Schudson, the centrality of newspapers that make associations possible. This article 1 the free press has been well documented. Newspapers, addresses this oversight in the literature and uses Tocque- in particular, have been considered the vanguard of the ville to understand how digital media functions as a free press and, as such, a keystone supporting democratic replacement for newspapers. This task is essential because liberty. Newspaper circulation, however, has seriously newspapers were a pillar of democratic life. As Tocqueville 2 declined over the last decade. This decline in dailies is, claims regarding newspapers, “We should underrate their of course, paralleled by the rise of the Internet and the importance if we thought they just guaranteed liberty; accessibility of online information—a development that they maintain civilization” (DA,517). raises a troubling question: Can the digital media, and Despite the centrality of newspapers in Tocqueville’s the “news” on the Internet, be an adequate replacement thought, he does not whole-heartedly embrace them. He for newspapers when it comes to preserving democratic recognizes their importance, but just as his vision of liberty? democracy itself is ambivalent, his endorsement of news- To shed light on this question, I turn to the thought of papers is not without reservation.7 Tocqueville regarded Alexis de Tocqueville who, in his Democracy in America newspapers as a microcosm of a larger leveling down (DA), makes a direct connection between a free society that he saw as synonymous with the rise of equality.8 It and newspapers. In a rather well-known passage from his is this nuanced and ambivalent approach to newspapers classic text, Tocqueville suggests that liberty and civiliza- that lends itself to forming a theoretical framework fit tion depend on religion, industrious courage, and the free for evaluating the question at hand. That is, insofar as 3 press—or as he puts it, the “Bible, ax, and newspapers.” the Bible, the ax, and the newspaper were the central The importance of religion to social life in Tocqueville’s instruments defending liberty and civilization, can we 4 America has been well documented. Some attention has meaningfully talk about the Bible, ax, and tablet? For been afforded the ax, but the role of newspapers remains Tocqueville, newspapers can be at the heart of democ- 5 underexplored. This oversight is perplexing, especially racy’s strength because they express the opinions of the

CONTACT Thomas David Bunting [email protected] 110 North Hall, 1050 Bascom Mall, Department of Political Science, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI 53706, USA. © 2017 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC 258 T. D. BUNTING people, educate citizens, and gather together a citizenry a paper depended solely on one’s desire to do so. As a otherwise in danger of dissolving into atomistic individu- result, there were few barriers to entry, and starting a als. They thus play a key role in preserving the unstable paper was an easy matter. freedom in democratic society.9 All of these advantages Easy to produce, newspapers were ubiquitous and exist despite the debased tone used in newspapers and decentralized in Jacksonian America, giving them a dis- the inflammatory effect this tone has on the passions of tinctly local character. Tocqueville writes, “a few sub- the people. Tocqueville’s theory ultimately illuminates scribers are enough to cover expenses, so the number of how the newspaper, with its drawbacks and strengths, is periodical or semiperiodical productions in the United essential to preserving democratic liberty. I argue that by States surpasses all belief” (DA, 184). In addition to the extending Tocqueville’s analysis to digital media, we see impressive numbers of newspapers, they were also scat- that the local character is missing and presents problems tered throughout the country. As Tocqueville claims, for thinking about digital democracy. “There is hardly a hamlet in America without its newspa- To explicate Tocqueville’s theory of newspapers and per” (DA, 185). This stratification created a diverse num- their importance to democratic life, this article consists ber of papers that focused on particular localities. There of five sections. The first section catalogs the central fea- were few newspapers from one press, but many presses tures of newspapers as Tocqueville saw them. The second printing newspapers. As a result, newspapers did not section looks at the debased tone of newspapers. The focus on abstract, national interests, but local concerns third section examines the importance of newspapers to and concrete issues facing citizens in their everyday lives. democratic life. The fourth section offers an overview of Newspapers were also widespread; Tocqueville cites the ambivalent portrait Tocqueville paints and argues the presence of newspapers in the half-vacant West to that he provides a rubric for thinking through radically illustrate his point. At one point in his travels into the democratic forms of communication—their advantages American frontier, he came across an isolated log cabin and their downfalls. The fifth and final section brings in the middle of a forest. This cabin serves as an example this theory of newspapers to bear on digital media. of how far newspapers had reached. After describing the cabin, he writes:

Central Features of Newspapers Who would not suppose that this poor hut sheltered some rude and ignorant folk? But one should not To understand Tocqueville’s ambivalent stance on news- assume any connection between this pioneer and the papers, it is imperative to understand central features of place that shelters him. All his surroundings are primi- those newspapers. Of course, Tocqueville’s account of tive and wild, but he is the product of eighteen centuries newspapers and the press in Jacksonian America is not of labor and experience. He wears the clothes and talks entirely accurate.10 Despite these inaccuracies, his thesis the language of a town; he is aware of the past, curious about the future, and ready to argue about the present; remains salient: newspapers played a vital role in demo- he is a very civilized man prepared for a time to face life cratic life and helped maintain democratic freedom. For in the forest, plunging into the wildernesses of the New theorizing the importance of the press, Tocqueville’s World with his Bible, ax, and newspapers (DA, 303). nuanced understanding remains fruitful. By examining these newspapers, there are six defining features: they are Newspapers spread civilization to the West because easy to make, local, widespread, timely, disposable, and they were easy to produce and brought previously democratic. While the first four traits Tocqueville finds remote locations together in a meaningful way. Tocque- helpful, the last two are questionable, and, as will be evi- ville does not find uncivilized Americans in the wilder- dent in the next section, Tocqueville disdains the tone ness because the newspaper helped make the pioneer used in newspapers that inevitably accompanies these akin to the citizens in the town, even if they were geo- traits. graphically distant from one another. At the time of Tocqueville and Beaumont’s travels in Newspapers also provided information in a timely America, creating a newspaper was no difficult task. manner, making them a product of the present. Tocque- Tocqueville writes, “In the United States printers need ville writes, “It is hard to imagine quite how incredibly no licenses, and newspapers no stamps or registration; quickly ideas circulate in these empty spaces” (DA, 303). moreover, the system of giving securities is unknown” To Tocqueville, the existence of such a rapid and vast (DA, 184). The printing process that Tocqueville source of information and communication is one of the describes was radically informal. No authentication was major influences on American democracy. James Schlei- needed. Instead, Americans were left free to print and to fer, referring to Tocqueville and Beaumont, claims, “The create newspapers as they pleased.11 There was no cen- significance of such rapid transit of information and tral authority overseeing the process, and the creation of ideas did not long elude the companions.”12 Tocqueville PERSPECTIVES ON POLITICAL SCIENCE 259 realizes that this rapid transit of ideas and information other, to reveal their souls to one another, it will be kept Americans together in the same present. This time- through the lowly newspaper, not the poem, not the liness is one reason why those living in the frontier were novel, and not the complicated treatise. It is the demo- not radically behind those living in cities and towns. cratic newspaper that allows for all Americans to partici- Bound up with their timely nature, Tocqueville saw pate in the quotidien politics of their local communities, that newspapers were also disposable. They were part of and by extension in the politics of the nation.17 a broader movement that he saw as synonymous with the spread of democracy and equality—the break with the past, something unthinkable for the aristocratic con- Newspapers and Debased Discourse 13 sciousness. For the most part, this break with the past When surveying the primary characteristics of newspa- made Tocqueville uncomfortable and his discomfort was pers—they are easy to produce, local, widespread, timely, 14 evident in his discussion of newspapers. He claims, disposable, and democratic—it is not surprising that “Newspapers are the only historical records in the United newspapers have a debased tone. Newspapers do not States. If one number is missing, it is as if the link of time point one toward the heights of philosophical discourse. was broken: present and past cannot be joined together In fact, the tone in newspapers is often quite vulgar. The again” (DA, 207). Newspapers recorded the history of reason for this debased tone is twofold: first, newspapers the democratic nation, but as timely documents, they focus on practical concerns. Second, newspapers are were often discarded and lost. Tocqueville asserts as inflammatory, appealing to the reader’s passions, or their fi much, claiming that in fty years, “it will be harder to base desires and emotions. While this debased tone may collect authentic documents about the details of social be worrisome, Tocqueville shows that the local nature of life in modern America than about French medieval the newspaper prevents this debased tone from being a administration” (DA, 207). The democratic world has serious threat to democratic liberty. replaced the aristocratic dedication to the past with an Although critical about the tone used in newspapers, almost reckless abandon and lack of concern for history. Tocqueville knew well that to speak to the masses in a The fact that a cheap and disposable newspaper was the democratic age, it could not be otherwise. Tocqueville only means of recording history is certainly indicative of himself ran a newspaper, Le Commerce, and had fixed a fundamentally different orientation toward the past. ideas about the type of writing fit for a newspaper.18 In a fi fi The nal de ning characteristic of newspapers made letter to Gobineau about a contribution to Le Commerce, their rise in the new democratic and egalitarian world Tocqueville says this about the newspaper style: unsurprising—newspapers themselves were democratic and inclusive. Tocqueville sees the newspaper as a politi- I shall criticize you also for feeling you had to describe cal avenue open to all. He writes, “Equality isolates and your author in such detail. This again belongs in a book, but not in a newspaper. You forget that you are faced weakens men, but the press puts each man in reach of a with a hurried and rather ignorant readership who are very powerful weapon which can be used even by the not interested in knowing anything well but rather in a weakest and most isolated of men” (DA, 697). The free sketch of the author’s main literary habits or in his own press was not just for elites; it was a weapon for everyone story. They want a few vivid and decisive colors rather in a democratic society. Anyone could make grievances than a careful, subtle, and detailed picture. You have treated the readership of the Commerce as if they were publicly, rather than, say, through connections one literary men. That they are not, nor is any newspaper might have in the government. The newspaper was a subscriber, at least when he is reading his paper. Look at powerful political platform because all levels of society what Sainte-Beuve is doing: he depicts at the most one could read it. Tocqueville’s travel companion, Beaumont, or two features of his subject, and he mixes his literary makes a similar claim in a letter to his brother, writing, judgments, his anecdotes, and such arguments therein “There is one kind of literature that circulates widely— so as to arouse the lazy minds of his readers. I do not say fi that this is a good example for a literature course; but, I newspapers. You nd them as well in the cobbler’s shop repeat, you are writing for a newspaper.19 as in the home of the rich banker. Even humble domes- tics read them. Few people have private libraries; news- Tocqueville chastises Gobineau not because he lacks papers are the household’s common provender.”15 In the art of writing well, but because his writing is too other words, Beaumont is succinctly stating a thesis that intricate, too demanding. The difference between litera- Tocqueville shares—newspapers are the American liter- ture and journalism is obvious. The newspaper is not ary form. As Tocqueville puts it, “The Americans have the place for subtle work exploring the depths of an not yet, properly speaking, got any literature. Only the issue; it is the place for a practical sketch detailing journalists strike me as truly American” (DA, 471).16 If essential information. The reader is lazy and therefore Americans are going to make their minds known to each needs something to arouse his or her passions or appeal 260 T. D. BUNTING to his or her self-interest. The reader desires a basic beings rather than their passions and self-interest. How- understanding of the issues and the writer should take ever, Tocqueville characteristically does not conclude that into account. that newspapers as a form of discourse ought to be To write well for a newspaper, one must take into rejected but believes they are an essential part of the account that Americans prefer function over form; they democratic world, even if they are distasteful. Because desire practical knowledge. Tocqueville writes, “Seeing one cannot do away with newspapers, one must evaluate that they are successful in resolving unaided all the little them on their merits. Although newspapers appeal to difficulties they encounter in practical affairs, they are baser instincts, this danger can be mitigated. easily led to the conclusion that everything in the world For Tocqueville, the local character of newspapers can be explained and that nothing passes beyond the blunts the danger of this democratic form of discourse. limits of intelligence” (DA, 430). Americans prefer prac- While the ubiquity of newspapers is the essence of their tical knowledge that is straightforward and useful— social power, it also decreases their political power. knowledge not hidden behind a veil of artistic obfusca- According to Tocqueville, “The most enlightened Ameri- tion. This preference for practical knowledge accords cans attribute the slightness of the power of the press to well with the advice Tocqueville gave Gobineau: when this incredible dispersion; it is an axiom of political one is writing to inform one’s readership of happenings science there that the only way to neutralize the effect of useful for their everyday lives, one should write clearly newspapers is to multiply their numbers” (DA, 184). It is about the main topic at hand. American journalists cater important to note that when Tocqueville says that news- to this desire for practical knowledge and write accord- papers are weak, he is referring to individual newspapers ingly. Regarding journalists, Tocqueville writes, “They and not to the role of newspapers in toto. He compares certainly are not great writers, but they speak their coun- the situation with France, in which the press has “only a try’s language and they make themselves heard” few powerful organs,” which makes it a dangerous (DA, 471). American journalists speak the language of weapon for revolutionaries (DA, 184–5). Centralized self-interest rightly understood and appeal to the practi- newspapers are dangerous because they give too much cal concerns of their fellow citizens; they certainly do not power to a few individuals. A diverse collection of local indulge Gobineau’s propensity for subtle writing.20 This newspapers controlled by various people and associations simple style effectively appeals to the practical concerns prevents this monopoly of an important political plat- of citizens in a straightforward manner that can be form. According to Tocqueville, “Each individual Ameri- grasped by a lazy, or busy, mind. can newspaper has little power, but after the people, the In addition to addressing practical concerns, journal- press is nonetheless the first of powers” (DA, 186). ists play on the passions of the readership, making news- Although local papers appeal to base instincts, they papers rather inflammatory. Tocqueville claims that cannot corrupt the whole populace.22 Unlike France, the despite the peaceful social state in America, the press is United States does not have an intellectual capitol and, just as inflammatory and destructive as in France, but consequently, enlightenment and power is spread without reason for this anger (DA, 182). For Tocqueville, throughout the country (DA, 184). Spread out in such a this tone is endemic to newspapers. He writes, “The peri- way, the American free press lacks the power of the cen- odical press seems to me to have instincts and passions tralized press in Paris. Tocqueville claims that in Amer- of its own independent of the circumstances in which it ica, “the press, so skilled to inflame human passions, can is operating. What happens in America has proved that yet not create them all on its own” (DA, 183). This weak- to me” (DA, 182). The newspaper and the press are not ness is good for America because it allows for local dif- inflammatory because of any peculiar circumstance or ference and contains what otherwise might be contagion. oddity in America; the nature of the medium creates this Thus, although newspapers can ape and kindle passions, type of debased discourse.21 these passions are local and pertain to local issues. In The tone of this discourse is undesirable for Tocque- short, American papers may be simpler and more vulgar ville. As he writes, “The hallmark of the American jour- than French papers, but their sheer numbers and focus nalist is a direct and coarse attack, without any on local issues makes them less politically destructive. subtleties, on the passions of his readers; he disregards The tone used in this discourse is undesirable, but the principles to seize on people, following them into their decentralization of the newspapers mitigates the danger. private lives and laying bare their weaknesses and vices” (DA, 185). Tocqueville laments this tone, calling it “a Newspapers and Democratic Freedom deplorable abuse of the powers of thought” (DA, 185). There is no denying that he would prefer a more refined Despite appealing to baser instincts, Tocqueville views discourse that appeals to the higher nature of human newspapers as one of the most important means of PERSPECTIVES ON POLITICAL SCIENCE 261 maintaining freedom in the democratic world. He claims citizen. Tocqueville argues that in aristocratic times one that assemblies, parliament, and sovereignty of the peo- had many avenues of appeal if one was oppressed, but ple can all “to some extent, be reconciled with personal that is not the case in a democracy. In democratic times, servitude. But such servitude cannot be complete if the he writes, press is free. The press is, par excellence, the democratic An oppressed citizen has only one means of defense: he weapon of freedom” (DA, 698). How is it that the press, can appeal to the nation as a whole, and if it is deaf, to a platform with such an undesirable tone, can be democ- humanity at large. The press provides his only means of racy’s best weapon for freedom? For Tocqueville, the doing this. For this reason freedom of the press is infi- press serves three primary roles in preserving freedom: it nitely more precious in a democracy than in any other is a court for public opinion, it educates the populace, nation. It alone cures most of the ills which equality may engender. Equality isolates and weakens men, but the and finally, it plays a crucial role in gathering people press puts each man in reach of a very powerful weapon together. which can be used even by the weakest and most isolated To the first point, it is clear that the press is closely of men. Equality deprives each individual of the help of related to public opinion. Although the press cannot fab- his neighbors, but the press enables him to call to his aid ricate passions or opinions ex nihilo, it does shape public all his fellow citizens and all mankind. Printing has has- opinions (DA, 186). Tocqueville claims, “It is not politi- tened the progress of equality, but it is also one of its best correctives (DA, 697). cal opinions only, but all the views of men which are influenced by the freedom of the press. It modifies mores Put otherwise, the press is the best (or rather, only) as well as laws” (DA, 180). The press shapes formal poli- means for average citizens to speak out against oppres- tics and social mores.23 However, because it is not cen- sion. It is the best weapon that democratic citizens have tralized, it does not directly dictate public opinion; for freedom because the ability to appeal to public opin- rather, it is a forum in which public opinion can express ion is crucial in a political system dominated by public itself. The press cannot form public opinion because opinion. Isolated and weak, equal in their weakness, citi- Tocqueville claims, “the personal view expressed by jour- zens can use newspapers to call fellow citizens to their nalists carry, so to speak, no weight with the readers. aid. By serving as a court of public opinion, the press What they look for in a newspaper is knowledge of facts, consequently checks elites, shapes policy, and provides and it is only by altering or distorting those facts that the individuals a space for redress if they have been wronged. journalist can gain some influence for his views” Newspapers also preserve freedom by educating citi- (DA, 186). In other words, it is not a bully pulpit for zens. Recall the passage about the American in the wil- journalistic bias. There is some room to shape opinion, derness—he is civilized and armed with a Bible, an ax, but almost no room to form it. and newspaper. The Bible feeds the soul, the ax the body, By shaping and expressing public opinion, the news- and the newspaper nourishes homo civicus.26 This civic paper can be the site of public tribunals. The press can education may be more practical and superficial than be a check on elite political actors, forcing them to be European education, but it is also more universal. Toc- accountable for their actions. Tocqueville writes that the queville writes, “I think there is no other country in the press, “makes political life circulate in every corner of world where, proportionately to the population, there that vast land. Its eyes are never shut, and it lays bare the are so few ignorant and so few learned individuals as in secret shifts of politics, forcing public figures in turn to America” (DA, 55). A key reason for this universal edu- appear before the tribunal of public opinion” (DA, 186). cation is that newspapers are widespread (DA, 301–4). It is the unblinking eye of the press that keeps political The wide reach of the newspaper educates each citizen elites honest—to use Jeffrey Green’s language, the press enough to raise them out of ignorance. It is true that this forces candor on the part of elites before the eyes of the education is part of the leveling of mankind that Tocque- people.24 This power over elites extends to political par- ville generally sees taking place in America, but leveling ties as well and the press can influence party politics. means not only bringing the elite down it also means Tocqueville writes, “The press rallies interest around cer- bringing the downtrodden up.27 Thus, in America, there tain doctrines and gives shape to party slogans; through are no rude and ignorant peasants. Although unschooled the press the parties, without actually meeting, listen and in theory and philosophy like Europeans, Americans are argue with one another” (DA, 186). In other words, by educated by the newspaper about their political and shaping part of politics, the press serves as a watchdog— social lives. For Tocqueville, this education is important as many have since suggested.25 in democratic times because “the age of blind sacrifice The press serves as a court of public opinion for more and instinctive virtues is already long past, and I see a than just elite actors. In fact, its function as a court of time approaching in which freedom, public peace, and public opinion is even more important for the average social stability will not be able to last without education” 262 T. D. BUNTING

(DA, 528). The newspaper provides the basis for this (DA, 518). The causal arrow seems to go both ways, but essential education. it is clear that newspapers are of the utmost importance Finally, the newspaper preserves freedom by bringing to associations. Other readers of Tocqueville recognize people together.28 The problem of isolated individuals is this. For example, Joshua Mitchell writes, “Without a phenomenon synonymous with the rise of equality and newspapers, associations are unlikely to form; and with- democracy. In aristocratic times, Tocqueville is clear, out associations, equality in freedom secretly gravitates people were bound together.29 Aristocracies, for all of toward an equality in servitude.”34 Newspapers help civil their problems and their impossibility amidst the dogma associations stave off majority tyranny, preserving the of equality, connected people.30 They formed a web of fragile freedom in the New World. duties and obligations. Connections between people are Newspapers also facilitate conversation and commu- important and necessary in democratic times in which nication beyond associational life. In fact, newspapers they do not naturally exist. Tocqueville writes, “When no bring people together to fulfill needs brought about by firm and lasting ties any longer unite men, it is impossi- institutional arrangements in America. Tocqueville ble to obtain the cooperation of any great number of claims that “The extraordinary subdivision of adminis- them unless you can persuade every man whose help is trative power” is only made possible by newspapers required” that it is in his private interest to help others (DA, 519). In other words, institutions in America (DA, 517). The newspaper is the primary means of doing require that citizens work together and newspapers help this—of gathering people together. Tocqueville claims them do so.35 The structure of government itself (or lack that only a newspaper can unite people because “Only a thereof) requires that citizens communicate with each newspaper can put the same thought at the same time other to participate in their own governance.36 Conse- before a thousand readers” (DA, 517). The newspaper is quently, Tocqueville argues, contra the prevailing opin- a simple way of collecting the minds of many and turn- ion in France and England, “Newspapers do not ing them toward the same object, away from themselves multiply simply because they are cheap, but according to and toward a greater political entity. Tocqueville writes, the more or less frequent need felt by a great number of “A newspaper is an adviser that need not be sought out, people to communicate with one another and act but comes of its own accord and talks to you briefly every together” (DA, 519). day about the commonwealth without distracting you In sum, the newspaper is the primary vehicle for pre- from your private affairs” (DA, 517). The newspaper is a venting democratic tyranny. Despotism and tyranny of natural and simple way of transforming so many individ- the majority can only occur when citizens are isolated uals into a coherent public. and weak. Newspapers provide (1) an easy and effective This gathering capacity is crucial for democratic life. way of creating a court of public opinion, (2) a practical Tocqueville describes a populace lost in a crowd, wanting social education, and (3) they bring isolated individuals to connect and combine, but unable to until “a newspa- together to form a public. per gives publicity to the feeling or idea that had occurred to them all simultaneously but separately. They at once aim toward the light, and these wandering spirits, Evaluating Tocqueville’s Ambivalence long seeking each other in the dark, at last meet and Tocqueville thus paints an ambivalent portrait of news- unite” (DA, 518). The newspaper presents a means of papers and the discourse they represent without fleeing gathering those who otherwise would not be gathered. from them or their effects. Instead, he embraces a form Tocqueville’s image presents the newspaper as the light of discourse that, from an “elevated” European aesthetic shining in the darkness that is isolated individualism. As perspective, could be written off as distasteful and vulgar. the means of gathering, the newspaper is essential to Rather than rejecting the medium, he evaluates its draw- democratic life.31 If people are not brought together, the backs and its advantages. On doing so, he does not come tyranny of the majority becomes omnipotent. away hopeless but often optimistic that such discourse is It is by bringing together those with the same ideas good for democratic life. He writes: that newspapers gather individuals in associations.32 It is no accident that Tocqueville’s main chapters on associa- Comparing the republics of America to those of Greece tions are immediately before or after chapters on news- and Rome, one thinks of the libraries full of manuscripts papers.33 There is an intimate connection between them. but the rude population of the former, and of the thou- On this, Tocqueville is unambiguous: “Newspapers make sand newspapers which plow the latter land and the enlightened people that live there. When one comes to associations, and associations make newspapers” think of all the efforts made to judge the latter in the (DA, 518). In other words, it is no surprise that America light of the former, and by studying what happened two boasts the most associations and the most newspapers thousand years ago to predict what will occur nowadays, PERSPECTIVES ON POLITICAL SCIENCE 263

I am tempted to burn my books in order to apply none certainly easier to make than a newspaper in the 1830s, but new ideas to such a new social state (DA, 302). and digital publishing is easier than printing actual ink In other words, he recognizes that the modern on paper. There is a proliferation of new media and yet, discourse lacks the brilliance of the Ancient world, but with these new formats, most journalism scholars agree the modern world also lacks the corresponding mass of that newspapers remain the primary news gathering and ignorant citizens. Excellence has been traded for medioc- reporting institutions.40 While digital content may be rity, but such a trade is not always a downgrade; it is easier to make, there is reason to believe that this content even a benefit for most people. Leveling down means is now drastically different. Much digital media is geared that although some are brought lower, many are raised toward selling ads rather than doing substantive report- higher. In an egalitarian world seeking to eliminate ing. More than ever, media is shaped by journalists sim- extremes, the practical newspaper that expresses public ply trying to survive as audiences decrease.41 opinions, educates citizens, and brings people together is Internet access can also be found in many remote pla- a democratic good, even though the form of discourse is ces, making digital media widespread. The diversity and debased and appeals to passions and practical concerns. omnipresence of news have only grown in the digital The freedom of the press is not an aesthetic good; it is age. As Schudson and Downie note, “The Internet and a democratic good. He states, “I admit that I do not feel those seizing its potential have made it possible—and toward freedom of the press that complete and instanta- often quite easy—to gather and distribute news more neous love which one accords to things by their nature widely in new ways.”42 However, there is a problem with supremely good. I love it more from considering the evils equating the widespread nature of the newspaper and it prevents than on account of the good it does” digital media. Evidence suggests that although more peo- (DA, 180). Newspapers are not in and of themselves ple can disseminate their own information and perspec- good; they prevent worse ills. Tocqueville writes that tive than ever before, these voices often go unheard. newspapers are a “strange mixture of good and evil with- Most information people consume on the Internet is out which freedom could not survive but with which highly concentrated.43 In other words, a few outlets gain order can hardly be maintained” (DA, 182). The debased exposure, but most are ignored. This concentration mir- discourse fit for newspapers creates disorder while main- rors the centralization that Tocqueville found dangerous taining freedom. Presumably, an elevated discourse is for newspapers. preferable, but it is unlikely to be found. Tocqueville One of the key features of Tocqueville’s newspapers does not speculate about how newspapers ought to func- was their local character. This trait is unfortunately tion; he details how they affect everyday life. He takes a almost wholly lost in the new media landscape. This is a similar stance toward the unstoppable march of equal- breakdown that distances digital media from the key role ity.37 For Tocqueville, the modern world of equality can- played by Tocqueville’s newspapers in democratic life. not be struggled against; it can only be accepted. While The loss of the local character has dramatically changed many good things are lost—heroic devotion, pure vir- the news landscape. With the loss of local coverage, the tues, genius and refinement—there are new social goods press loses, among other things, its ability to serve as a and the New World is less cruel, less violent, less vulgar, watchdog, a function essential to democratic practice.44 and less ignorant (DA, 703).38 The fundamental shift It would be absurd to argue that websites, such as from the aristocratic world to the democratic world is a Twitter, are not timelier than newspapers in Jacksonian move away from greatness and toward justice.39 The America. We have quicker access to story updates and same changes that affect society affect its discourse. The breaking news than ever before. One need not wait for newspaper does not spread excellence across the land the paper to be delivered; one need only refresh a web- but it spreads necessary knowledge and communication, page. This has also changed how journalism functions. both of which safeguard freedom in democratic social On micro-blogging sites like Twitter, it has been shown conditions. that reporters are more willing to share their opinion.45 While this candor may seem like a good thing, it violates older journalistic norms of objectivity. This is in line Extrapolating to Digital Media with other literature that examines the effect of technol- What does Tocqueville’s analysis of newspapers add to ogy on changing news norms and media landscapes.46 our understanding of digital media in the wake of declin- Digital media is so timely that it has shifted journalistic ing newspaper circulation? To begin, digital media shares standards. many of the central features Tocqueville saw in newspa- In line with the timely nature of the paper, Tocque- pers (i.e., they are easy to make, local, widespread, timely, ville saw that newspapers were disposable. Digital media disposable and democratic). To the first point, a blog is also seems disposable, though the record is more lasting 264 T. D. BUNTING than the physical newspapers. Anything posted has the democratic check is in danger.49 News is becoming more potential to linger online. While it may be true that better centralized and less concerned with local issues.50 This records are kept in the digital age, what worried Tocque- loss in accountability of local government is problematic; ville about the disposability of newspapers was a type of there is no conclusive evidence that digital media, despite time consciousness. He was worried that the newspaper an increase in outlets, performs the same watchdog func- symbolized a lack of concern for the past, and it is tion that was so crucial for Tocqueville’stheory.51 In fact, unclear that digital media in any way re-orients demo- it has been argued that with the decline of newspapers cratic minds to think more long term. The hypertimeli- there will be a rise in corruption.52 Newspapers staffs have ness of digital media instead orients citizens toward been slashed and the papers that remain lack the power thinking in terms of disposability—news is consumed they once had to do investigative work. There is no equiv- and then forgotten. alent in the new media landscape as of yet that acts as a Finally, digital media can be even more democratic public forum in the manner Tocqueville believed was nec- and inclusive than newspapers. Gone is the need for edi- essary for preserving democratic liberty. tors and journalists; digital media obliterates the need for Digital media certainly has the potential to provide the such intermediaries. However, by being more demo- simple education that citizens received from newspapers in cratic, digital media may degrade civic participation.47 Tocqueville’stime.However,thelinkbetweeneducation Citizens can more easily express their opinion, but they and the Internet is contested.53 More importantly for Toc- are not necessarily more engaged with politics. Further- queville’stheory,digitalmediacanprovidethequickand more, with the proliferation of choice in news and enter- practical information that democratic citizens desire, but tainment, many citizens simply opt out of consuming there is no evidence that digital media does a better job of public affairs news and information, creating larger doing so than the newspaper. In fact, findings indicate that inequalities in political engagement and increased polari- digital media educates citizens less about local politics. For zation.48 Ultimately, while the newspaper and digital example, it has been shown that citizen journalism sites do a media share many likenesses, the shift in content and the much worse job at covering local government.54 New media obliteration of local news make digital media substan- has not replaced the old when it comes to educating citizens tively different. about pertinent local information. Sharing key characteristics of Tocqueville’s newspa- Finally, Tocqueville saw the newspaper as rectifying pers, digital media also has the same debased tone. One one of the biggest problems democracies face—citizens need only visit a comments section to see that digital becoming isolated from one another—by bringing peo- media, like the newspaper, does not elevate minds. The ple together. It is here that the new media departs most discourse is debased just as it was in Tocqueville’s time; from the old. The new media can bring people together, it is inflammatory and geared toward practical concerns. but it allows people to come together selectively. With Catchy headlines, clickbait, and the need for page views the newspaper, one comes across the opinions of one’s to collect ad revenue only increase the incentives for fellow citizens who live in one’s town and encounters the these vulgar tendencies. Gobineau’s style of writing happenings in their locality whether one wants to or not. would be even more out of place in this digital media cli- Digital media allows people to curate what they read. mate. Furthermore, there is a problem with digital media There is no guarantee that digital media will expose citi- not endemic to newspapers: online media is centralized. zens to local concerns unless they seek them out.55 Con- Tocqueville could accept the debased discourse in news- sequently, the greatest danger of digital media is that it papers because they were decentralized. With increasing may not bring citizens together but allow them to drift centralization in digital media, regional passions become into what Cass Sunstein describes as their own enclaves, national passions, encouraged by their time trending in surrounded by like-minded people, cut off from those the spotlight. who disagree with them.56 Expanding technology caters Can the new media preserve freedom like Tocqueville’s to individual interests, ultimately creating a space that is newspapers did in Jacksonian America? The newspaper more personal than communal.57 The virtue of the news- was a forum for public opinion and acted as a court of paper is that it brought citizens together, regardless of public opinion; the same could be true of social networks. preferences. There is evidence that digital media will One need only have friends share their plight and they only further distance citizens from local concerns.58 can appeal to public opinion. However, when it comes to serving as a tribunal for local government officials, digital Conclusion media comes up short. It has been proven that newspa- pers do the best job of covering local government, and None of this is to say that we should blindly reject or with the decrease of local dailies, this important embrace the march of technology. Tocqueville provides a PERSPECTIVES ON POLITICAL SCIENCE 265 way for thinking through contemporary forms of dis- Everyday Life, ed. Alondra Nelson, Thuy Linh N. Tu, and course without rejecting them outright because they Alicia Headlam Hines (New York: New York University seem uncouth. By bringing Tocqueville’s understanding Press, 2001); Paul S. Hernson, Atiya Kai Stokes-Brown, and Matthew Hindman, “Campagin Politics and the Digi- of newspapers to bear on contemporary digital media, it tal Divide: Constituency Characteristics, Strategic Consid- is possible to recognize the potential of such discourse. erations, and Candidate Internet Use in State Legislative At the same time, it helps us understand what has Elections,” Political Research Quarterly 60, no. 1 (2007); changed, namely, that although there is now increased Shaun Bowler and Gary M. Segura, The Future Is Ours choice in news outlets, there is also a loss of local gather- (Thousand Oaks, CA: CQ Press/SAGE, 2012), 151. ing points. The digital media is more universal, but it 3. This is taken from the Harper edition of Tocqueville’s Democracy in America Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy lacks the local character of Tocqueville’s newspapers that in America, ed. J. P. Mayer, trans. George Lawrence, First is essential to preserving democratic liberty. Harper Perennial Modern Classics ed., 2 vols. (New York: If Tocqueville is right about the importance of the Harper Perennial Classics, 2006), 303. Henceforth all newspaper, we should be worried. All evidence indicates references Democracy in America will reference this edi- that the dying local newspaper remains the stalwart of tion with a parenthetical (DA, page number). 4. See, for example, Catherine H. Zuckert, “Not by Preach- the local coverage that is essential for democratic life. ing: Tocqueville on the Role of Religion in American Obviously, we can neither return to the world before dig- Democracy,” The Review of Politics 43, no. 2 (1981); San- ital media nor rehabilitate the newspaper. This reading of ford Kessler, “Tocqueville’s Puritans: Christianity and the Tocqueville, however, forces us to confront what is lost American Founding,” The Journal of Politics 54, no. 3 in this shift—the local character of the newspaper—and (1992); Arthur M. Melzer, “The Origin of the Counter- to think about reviving this essential trait in the world of Enlightenment: Rousseau and the New Religion of Sincer- ity,” American Political Science Review 90, no. 2 (1996); digital media. Richard Avramenko, “Tocqueville and the Religion of Democracy,” Perspectives on Political Science 41 (2012); Aaron L. Herold, “Tocqueville on Religion, the Enlighten- Notes ment, and the Democratic Soul,” American Political Sci- ence Review 109, no. 3 (2015). 1. See Alexander Hamilton et al., The Federalist Papers (New 5. Regarding Tocqueville and courage see James F. Pontuso, York: Mentor, 1999); W. Lance Bennett, News: The Politics “Tocqueville on Courage,” in Tocqueville’s Defense of of Illusion, 7th ed., Longman Classics in Political Science Human Liberty: Current Essays, ed. Peter Augustine Law- (New York: Pearson Longman, 2007); Michael Schudson, ler and Joseph Alulis (New York: Garland, 1993); Richard Why Democracies Need an Unlovable Press (Malden, MA: Avramenko, Courage: The Politics of Life and Limb (Notre Polity, 2008). Mill even treats the free press as an obvious Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press, 2011). necessity, writing, “The time, it is to be hoped, is gone by, 6. See especially chapter six in Part II of the second volume when any defence would be necessary of the ‘liberty of the of Democracy in America that deals extensively with the press’ as one of the securities against corrupt or tyrannical connection between newspapers and associations Tocque- government.” John Stuart Mill, On Liberty and Other ville, Democracy in America, 517–20. For an analysis of Writings, Cambridge Texts in the History of Political the importance of associations in Tocqueville’s work, see Thought (New York, NY: Cambridge University Press, William A. Galston, “Civil Society and the ‘Art of Associa- 1989), 19. tion’,” Journal of Democracy 11, no. 1 (2000); Robert T. 2. The Pew Research Center shows in its “State of the News Gannett, “Bowling Ninepins in Tocqueville’s Township,” Media 2015” report that advertising revenue for print The American Political Science Review 97, no. 1 (2003); newspapers has fallen from 46.7 billion dollars in 2004 to Robert D. Putnam, Bowling Alone: The Collapse and 16.4 billion dollars in 2014. Digital revenues have not Revival of American Community (New York: Simon & come close to compensating for the loss in print revenue Schuster, 2000); Andrew Sabl, “Community Organizing as and circulation has continued to drop (April 2015). For Tocquevillian Politics: The Art, Practices, and Ethos of analysis concerning the decline of newspapers, in particu- Association,” American Journal of Political Science 46, no. lar dailies, see Hiromi Cho, Hugh J. Martin, and Stephen 1 (2002); Theda Skocpol, “The Tocqueville Problem: Civic Lacy, “An Industry in Transition: Entry and Exit in Daily Engagement in American Democracy,” Social Science His- Newspaper Markets, 1987–2003,” Journalism and Mass tory 21, no. 4 (1997). Communication Quarterly 83, no. 2 (2006). There are 7. For an account of the ambivalence that is part and parcel many reasons to be worried about declining newspapers of Tocqueville’s new political science, see Aurelian and the corresponding degradation in news coverage; Craiutu, “Tocqueville’s Paradoxical Moderation,” The Alex S. Jones, Losing the News: The Future of the News Review of Politics 67, no. 4 (2005). That Feeds Democracy, Institutions of American Democ- 8. He writes late in the second volume, “I confess that I racy (New York: Oxford University Press, 2009). Further- believe democratic society to have much less to fear from more, many political scientists have highlighted issues boldness than from paltriness of aim. What frightens me stemming from the digital divide and inequality of access most is the danger that, amid all the constant trivial preoc- to new media; Logan Hill, “Beyond Access: Race, Technol- cupations of private life, ambition may lose its force and ogy, Community,” in Technicolor: Race, Technology, and its greatness, that human passions may grow gentler and 266 T. D. BUNTING

at the same time baser, with the result that the progress of and state politics. As Tocqueville writes, “Local institu- the body social may become daily quieter and less aspirin” tions are to liberty what primary schools are to science; (DA, 632). they put it within the people’s reach; they teach people to 9. Michael Hereth highlights this instability, writing, “There appreciate its peaceful enjoyment and accustom them to is always the danger that this majority will feel that free- make use of it. Without local institutions a nation may dom hinders or is harmful to the pursuit of other goals, give itself a free government, but it has not got the spirit and will sacrifice it for the sake of the other goods.” of liberty” (DA, 63). Michael Hereth, Alexis de Tocqueville: Threats to Freedom 18. Tocqueville took control of the newspaper for a year in Democracy (Durham, NC: Duke University Press, beginning in June of 1844. Boesche argues that Tocque- 1986), 23. ville used Le Commerce as a political outlet to express his 10. For example, some have claimed that Tocqueville overstates progressive politics as an alternative to “the corrupt con- the case of the importance of local matters in the community servatism of Guizot’s Ministry and the inept and opportu- newspapers of the time and that the penny press was actually nistic opposition of Thiers.” Roger Boesche, “Tocqueville abettermechanismforvoicinglocalconcerns;seeMichael and Le Commerce: A Newspaper Expressing His Unusual Schudson, The Good Citizen: A History of American Civic Liberalism,” Journal of the History of Ideas 44, no. 2 Life (New York: Martin Kessler Books, 1998), 116–26. For a (1983). full analysis of the historical details of newspapers in Jackso- 19. Alexis de Tocqueville and Arthur Gobineau, The Euro- nian America we would be better suited turning to histories pean Revolution & Correspondence with Gobineau (Glou- of the press and the era: Jeffrey L. Pasley, “The Tyranny of cester, MA: P. Smith, 1968), 217–8. Printers”:NewspaperPoliticsintheEarlyAmericanRepublic, 20. For example, Tocqueville describes the writing of an Jeffersonian America (Charlottesville: University Press of Vir- American newspaper article in a letter home this way: ginia, 2001); Daniel Walker Howe, What Hath God “The English is fairly simple” Tocqueville, Beaumont, and Wrought: The Transformation of America, 1815–1848, The Brown, Letters from America, 78. Oxford History of the United States (New York: Oxford Uni- 21. Even so, American newspapers are particularly passionate versity Press, 2007); Sean Wilentz, The Rise of American for a few reasons. First, there is no large fortune to be Democracy: Jefferson to Lincoln,Abridgedcollegeed.(New found in American journalism. Competition among news- York: W.W. Norton & Co., 2009). papers makes it impossible for there to be large profits, 11. Kummings notes that literature in America faces a differ- and these economic incentives cause anyone with a taste ent situation as forces unite “to discourage the production for money to avoid the newspaper business (DA, 185). of literary works.” Donald D. Kummings, “The Poetry of Moreover, the quantity of papers dilutes their quality. Democracies: Tocqueville’s Aristocratic View,” Compara- Tocqueville notes, “Even if papers were a source of wealth, tive Literature Studies 11, no. 4 (1974): 308. as there is such an excessive number of them, there would 12. James T. Schleifer, The Making of Tocqueville’s Democracy not be enough talented journalists to edit them all” (DA, in America, 2nd ed. (Indianapolis, IN: Liberty Fund, 185). There simply are not enough quality writers to fill 1999), 101. the number of openings. For these reasons and more, Toc- 13. Tocqueville notes the shifting temporal horizons from the queville observes, “generally American journalists have a landed aristocratic world to the democratic world in many low social status, their education is only sketchy, and their places, but one memorable moment is when he argues thoughts are often vulgarly expressed” (DA, 185). In that democratic citizens value liquid assets because they America, an already passionate, inflammatory medium is “are more easily used to satisfy the passions of the run by a class of people disdainful of erudition and predis- moment,” and claims that unlike the aristocratic family, posed to vulgar expression. the democratic family only concerns itself with the next 22. The argument is similar to Madison’s treatment of fac- generation and nothing further (DA, 53). tions in Federalist 10; as long as dangerous passions are 14. For example, when talking about an extinct native tribe regional and not national, they do not pose a threat to the that didn’t leave any records of their existence Tocqueville American political project. writes, “It is a strange thing that peoples should have so 23. On the importance of mores, see Donald J. Maletz, “Toc- completely vanished from the earth, that even the memory queville on Mores and the Preservation of Republics,” of their name is lost; their languages are forgotten and American Journal of Political Science 49, no. 1 (2005). their glory has vanished like a sound without an echo” 24. Jeffrey E. Green, The Eyes of the People: Democracy in (DA, 30). an Age of Spectatorship (Oxford, UK: Oxford University 15 Alexis de Tocqueville, Gustave de Beaumont, and Freder- Press, 2010), 22. ick Brown, Letters from America (New Haven, CT: Yale 25. Judith Serrin and William Serrin, Muckraking!: The Jour- University Press, 2010), 106–7. nalism That Changed America (New York: New Press, 16. Virtanen highlights this point, claiming that Tocqueville, 2002); John Zaller, “A New Standard of News Quality: “found America’s journalism more expressive than its lit- Burglar Alarms for the Monitorial Citzen,” Political Com- erature. This observation from the 1830’s appears largely munication 20 (2003); Sheila Coronel, “Corruption and vindicated” because Twain, Whitman, Hawthorne, Poe the Watchdog Role of the News Media,” in Public Sentinel: and Harte all had journalistic ties. Reino Virtanen, “Toc- News Media & Governance Reform, ed. Pippa Norris and queville on a Democratic Literature,” The French Review World Bank (Washington, DC: World Bank, 2010); Pippa 23, no. 3 (1950): 221. Norris, “The Watchdog Role of Journalists: Rottweilers, 17. Local institutions are essential for understanding bigger Alsatians or Poodles?” in The Oxford Handbook of Public political entities and are a training ground for national Accountability, ed. M. A. P. Bovens, Robert E. Goodin, PERSPECTIVES ON POLITICAL SCIENCE 267

and Thomas Schillemans (New York: Oxford University Stauffer, “Tocqueville on the Modern Moral Situation: Press, 2014). Democracy and the Decline of Devotion,” American Polit- 26. It is important to note that newspapers are not the only ical Science Review 108, no. 4 (2014). means by which American citizens are politically edu- 39. Lawler claims that Tocqueville has to replace his perspec- cated. Dzur points out correctly that the judicial system is tive with a divine perspective in order to come to terms an important part of their civic education as well. Albert with this shifting of values. Peter Augustine Lawler, The W. Dzur, “Democracy’s ‘Free School’: Tocqueville and Restless Mind: Alexis De Tocqueville on the Origin and Per- Lieber on the Value of the Jury,” Political Theory 38 petuation of Human Liberty (Lanham, MD: Rowman & (2010). Littlefield, 1993), 127. 27. Regarding intelligence, Tocqueville writes, “One hardly 40. “How News Happens,” (Pew Research Center: Pew ever finds men of great learning or whole communities research Center: Journalism and Media Staff, 2010). steeped in ignorance. Genius becomes rarer but education 41. Edson C. Tandoc Jr., “Journalism Is Twerking? How Web more common” (DA, 703). Analytic Is Changing the Process of Gate Keeping,” News 28. Mitchell concurs with this point, writing, “This habit, Media & Society 16 (2014). however, is sustained because there is a site that gathers 42. Leonard Jr. Downie and Michael Schudson, “The Recon- together those who, alone, lack the authority to do so. struction of American Journalism,” (Columbia Journalism This site is the newspaper.” Joshua Mitchell, The Fragility Review, 2009). of Freedom: Tocqueville on Religion, Democracy, and the 43. Matthew Scott Hindman, The Myth of Digital Democracy American Future (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2009). 1995), 126. 44. Local Journalism: The Deline of Newspapers and the Rise of 29. Tocqueville writes, “In Aristocratic peoples all the mem- Digital Media (London: I.B. Tauris & Co. Ltd., 2015). bers of the community are connected with and dependent 45. Dominic L. Lasorsa, Seth C. Lewis, and Avery E. Holton, on one another. There is a link in the hierarchy connect- “Normalizing Twitter: Journalism Practice in an Emerging ing them all that keeps each in his place and the whole Communication Space,” Journalism Studies 13, no. 1 body in obedience” (DA, 497). (2012). 30. For an analysis of the democratic dogma of equality, see Avra- 46. Steven Livingston and W. Lance Bennett, “Gatekeeping, menko, “Tocqueville and the Religion of Democracy,” 129. Indexing, and Live-Event News: Is Technology Altering 31. Tocqueville writes, “The newspaper brought them the Construction of News?” Political Communication 20, together and continues to be necessary to do so” (DA, no. 4 (2003). 518). 47. Phillip Howard argues that although social media creates a 32. Mansfield points out that Tocqueville focuses on associa- deeper democracy through spreading more information, it tions “in which Americans excel,” that is, those based also comes with a thinner view of citizenship in which around “a shared idea or sentiment in the members that people participate without being substantively engaged. they want to impart to the community.” Harvey Mansfield Phillip N. Howard, “Deep Democracy, Thin Citizenship: and Delba Winthrop, “Tocqueville’s New Political Sci- The Impact of Digital Media in Political Campaign Strat- ence,” in The Cambridge Companion to Tocqueville, ed. egy,” Annals of the American Academy of Political and Cheryl B. Welch (New York: Cambridge University Press, Social Science 597 (2005). 2006), 93. 48. Markus Prior, Post-Broadcast Democracy: How Media 33. In Volume I a discussion of the freedom of the press Choice Increases Inequality in Political Involvement and precedes Tocqueville’sdiscussionofpoliticalassocia- Polarizes Elections, Cambridge Studies in Public Opinion tion in the United States. In Volume II, Tocqueville’s and Political Psychology (New York: Cambridge Univer- chapter on associations is immediately followed by a sity Press, 2007). chapter titled “The Connection Between Associations 49. Lacy et al. show that daily papers provide the best infor- and Newspapers.” mation on local government. Stephen Lacy et al., “Dailies 34. Mitchell, The Fragility of Freedom: Tocqueville on Religion, Still Do ‘Heavy Lifitng’ in Government News, Despite Democracy, and the American Future, 128. Cuts,” Newspaper Research Journal 33, no. 2 (2012). 35. “The legislature has thus compelled each American to 50. While the Internet does provide a mass platform for cooperate every day of his life with some of his fellow citi- many, it is also important to note the tendencies toward zens for a common purpose, and each one of them needs centralization exist. Jonathan Zittrain, The Future of the a newspaper to tell him what the others are doing” (DA, Internet and How to Stop It (New Haven, CT: Yale Uni- 519). versity Press, 2008). 36. Wolin argues that this political participation was vital for 51. “Mapping Digial Media: Global Findings,” ed. Marius Tocqueville. Sheldon S. Wolin, Politics and Vision: Conti- Dragomir and Mark Thompson (Open Society Program nuity and Innovation in Western Political Thought, on Independent Journalism, 2014), 11–115. Expanded ed. (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 52. Paul Starr, “Goodbye to the Age of Newspapers (Hello to a 2004), 595. New Era of Corruption),” New Republic (2009). 37. Avramenko notes, “He observes the phenomenon without 53. Tara Brabazon, Digital Hemlock: Internet Education and condemnation but also without praise, simply asserting it as the Poisoning of Teaching (Sydney: UNSW Press, 2002). the primary characteristic of the modern, democratic age.” 54. Frederick Fico et al., “Citizen Journalism Sites as Informa- Avramenko, Courage: The Politics of Life and Limb,196. tion Substitutes and Complements for United States 38. Stauffer provides an astute account of this shift away from Newspaper Coverage of Local Governments,” Digital Jour- virtues and devotion towards self-interest. Dana Jalbert nalism 1, no. 1 (2013). 268 T. D. BUNTING

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