Democracy is not just a system of government, it is also a culture of free communication, one that comes with inherent risk. In an open, democratic society, communication can be a way of building relationships and sharing knowledge, but it can equally be a means of stoking tension, violence, falsehoods, and anything you can imagine. This is the risk inherent in a society that embraces free expression, but that risk can be dialed up when amplified by new media technologies.

Our guest today, Zac Gershberg, lays out this dilemma in his recent book with journalist Sean Illing, The Paradox of Democracy: Free Speech, Open Media, and Perilous Persuasion. Zac is a professor of Journalism and Media studies at Idaho State University, and I’m excited to have him here to help us think through this very timely topic.

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The Paradox of Democracy

Neil Postman: Amusing Ourselves to Death

Elizabeth Eisenstein: Divine Art, Infernal Machine: The Reception of Printing in the West

Marshall McLuhan: The Global Village