The Scale of the Press

"The more I observe the main effects of a free press, the more convinced I am that, in the modern world freedom of the press is the principal and, so to say, the constitutive element in freedom."

I think DeTocqueville was getting right at an important aspect of America. Through the presses, so many opinions could be shared. Local newspapers would provide all the information anyone needed to read, and each one had a bias that you could embrace or absolutely reject. In this way, people were able to speak their own voice. Anyone was free to say what they wanted if they had a printing press. This is where America flourished Democratically.

Since then, the press has... changed.

I remember learning in APUSH about the downfall of the press, and when a few, large newspapers replaced many, small ones. I believe it was around the beginning of the 1900's (though I could easily be mistaken). I would also say that was a time period where democracy as a concept was not at its glory days. Trusts and big business flourished and the individuals were lost in a sea of incoming cash and urbanization. Funny how both should occur around the same time.

Now, in our current time period, press even further on the decline. Or is it? With new internet media anyone is able to "publish" their opinion; that's somewhat comparable to back then. Except now all you need is access to a computer. Of course amongst the quality reporting there is a lot of hogwash. To me, it still seems like we're on an press boom. Perhaps democracy can always judged against a scale of how the press is flourishing.