The Impact Of The Media On Civic Leadership

Media critic David Abel takes L.A.'s newspaper to task for abdicating its role in civic politics.

1 minute read

March 21, 2005, 7:00 AM PST

By Chris Steins @planetizen


"A big-city newspaper achieves distinction as part of a region and a community's life by demonstrating the relevance of the place from which it hails to the larger national or global scene. Los Angeles qualifies as a global metropolis. Its leading newspaper should urge Angelenos to debate trade-offs and consider hard choices, compelling voters through reporting and commentary that vividly illustrates the policy choices available on the ballot and at the polls, not to mention in other aspects of civic life.

...Today, one finds too little in newspapers about civic life and representative government. What one does find is typically truncated or homogenized for consumption by the lowest common public denominator."

Thanks to Gwenn Hilburn

Monday, March 21, 2005 in The Los Angeles Times

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