Page 50 - Myths for the Masses An Essay on Mass Communication

Mass Communication and the Promise of Democracy

intellectual and a potential public. Mills reminds us that freedom is
without public value if it is not exercised, and that the exercise must
remain in the hands of responsible journalists to claim press freedom
for themselves and not for industrial interests.
Thus, current accounts of public journalism are reminiscent of
progressive ideas about the need to improve the conditions for
democracy without questioning the part capitalism has played in the
demise of the social system. Unfortunately, these conditions seem to
have worsened and it turns out that the problems of journalism
reflect the problems of society. Thus, disillusionment among jour-
nalists and their reported cynicism are symptoms of widespread
alienation and disbelief, while dissatisfaction with work (and pay) in
the face of shifting requirements concerning the type and quality
of intellectual labor in the media industries are indications of fun-
damental social and economic changes in society and their effects
on the workplace.

VII

Throughout these developments, however, the growth of media net-
works and the consolidation of mass communication into fewer and
larger organizations has been accompanied by reflections about the
promises of a communal past and the workings of democratic prac-
tices. There is a strategy to support present policies or ideological
positions with specific references to a past in which community
constituted a durable manifestation of sociality with commonsensi-
cal behavior.Therefore, nostalgia enables a convergence that features
the idea of community and provides the context for rationalizing,
if not enforcing, ways of defining mass communication as a mutual
or shared experience of service – but this time for commerce and
politics.
Indeed, American folklore and literature are rich in tales about
“place,” pastoral villages, or small towns – all synonyms for com-
munity – which go beyond the purely geographical or physical to
address a way of life, a spirit of commitment, collective identity, or
a commonality of interests. Although they are not identical, politics,
like communication, remain inseparable from community and are

38