Can Sensationalism Save Democracy?

The Case for Reporting on More Scandals, Worrying Less about Page Views, and Fighting Audience Apathy at Every Turn

Earlier this year, Stephen Colbert triumphantly declared “the first real scandal” of the Obama administration after CNN reported that veterans had died while waiting for care in the Phoenix Veterans Affairs system. In a classic Colbert satire, he then ran through a laundry list of White House scandals: “I know I’ve cried wolf before, what with Benghazi and the IRS, and the AP and Fast and Furious and Solyndra and Obama’s uncle and Obama’s aunt and Obama’s birth certificate … . But this one is different. It’s backed up by …

October 22, 2014

Have Our Politicians Become Boring?

All the Truth Is Out

by Matt Bai | October 18, 2014

Have our politicians gotten more boring? Yes, says Yahoo! News national political columnist Matt Bai. New technology—both social media and the 24-hour cable news cycle—have made political candidates particularly cautious …

How Do You Get Someone to Read About Shijiazhuang?

Encouraging Internet Wanderlust Is Tricky, Especially If You Don’t Want People to Get Lost

by Catherine D’Ignazio | August 4, 2014

We imagine ourselves to be citizens of the world, but in fact we are drawn to people like us, to familiar experiences, and to information that confirms our biases. This …

Media Scholar Ethan Zuckerman

What Underrated Green Bay Packers Player Are You?

June 30, 2014

Ethan Zuckerman is the director of the MIT Center for Civic Media and the author of Rewire: Becoming Digital Cosmopolitans in the Age of Connection, which won the 2014 Zócalo …

Is San Diego America’s Biggest Underperforming City?

Call Us ‘Sleepy.’ Mock Our Airport. We’re Just Happy We’re L.A.-Not.

by Michael Grant | May 20, 2014

As a veteran member of the San Diego media, I have been asked by Zócalo editors to write a brief essay which throws light on this question: “Why is San …

Your Local L.A. Newspaper Feels Your Pain

On Keeping Your Ears Open to the Concerns of ‘Regular People,’ Giving the Customers More, and a Newspaper’s Civic Duty

by Sarah Rothbard | March 11, 2014

The early 21st century has not been kind to newspapers in Southern California. But in an era of technological change and in a city of great demographic change, what kind …

When Journalists Became Scandal Mongers and Politicians Became Celebrities

Matt Bai on a Fundamental Shift in the Relationship Between the Political and the Private in America

Forget Fake News. Social Media Is Making Democracy Less Democratic.

Hyperconnectivity Allows Demagogues to Micro-Target and Manipulate the Masses

Preaching Civility Won’t Save American Democracy

Only by Learning to Communicate as Citizens, Not Propagandists, Can We Avert Political Tragedy

Can a Sin Tax on Mindless Media Save Journalism?

When CNN and Twitter Are Polluting Public Discourse, an Economic Incentive Could Stanch the Flow of Misinformation

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