Mainstream Journalism

«Journalists in the 21st century rarely stop to recall that ‘mainstream’ journalism has only been a short period in the history of public information. The supply of information to democratic societies only matured as a mass-market industry in the 20th century, allowing journalism to be practised and controlled in more concentrated and organized ways. Journalism of an earlier era was smaller scale, more intimate, opinionated and much of it resembled the social networks now carried by the internet.»

George Brock. «Out of Print: Newspapers, Journalism and the Business of News in the Digital Age.»

Laws

«James Madison’s views, expressed in the Federalist 62, are instructive in this regard. Madison writes, “It will be of little avail to the people that the laws are made by men of their own choice if the laws be so voluminous that they cannot be read, or so incoherent that they cannot be understood; if they be repealed or revised before they are promulgated, or undergo such incessant changes that no man, who knows what the law is today, can guess what it will be tomorrow.” Such a state of affairs, according to Madison, reduces popular respect for government and undermines economic development. “What prudent merchant will hazard his fortunes in any new branch of commerce when he knows not but that his plans may be rendered unlawful before they can be executed?”2»

Ginsberg, Benjamin: «The Value of Violence»