http://www.thetowerlight.com/vnews/display...3/3fb2cf934903b

by Brian Stelter
Photo by Saul Stoogenke
November 13, 2003

Former Vice President Al Gore said America's democracy is suffering as a result of television's dominance among communication mediums during a lecture broadcast via satellite to colleges and universities nationwide Tuesday evening.

"Our democracy is suffering in an age where the dominant medium is not accessible to the average person, and does not lend itself most readily to the conveyance of complex ideas about self-governance, and instead pushes toward a lowest common denominator," Gore said.

The event was broadcast live from Middle Tennessee State University, where Gore is a visiting professor. About 15 Towson students watched the broadcast in Smith Hall. Towson is one of 144 participants in the American Democracy Project, which presented the event.

The American Democracy Project is described as a "multi-campus initiative that seeks to create an intellectual and experiential understanding of civic engagement for undergraduates," according to its mission statement. The goal of the project is to "produce graduates who understand and are committed to engaging in meaningful actions as citizens in a democracy."

After declaring that the "print age is over," Gore credited it in part for bringing democracy to America.

"I don't believe it's an accident that our democracy...was formed and flourished in an era where the dominant communications medium was print technology," he said.

He referenced the Federalist Papers as one example of how the printed word persuaded people.

Gore mentioned group decision-making theories, evolutionary biology and the works of Greek philosophers.

He also tracked developments in forms of communication and principles of democracy along parallel tracks.

"Each advance in communications media has led to a change in the environment within which democracy either flourishes or withers," Gore said. "At certain times, democracy has been empowered...and at other times it has almost disappeared from history."

Gore related the invention of the printing press to the increasing influence of democracy among citizens. Communicating ideas to a mA* audience was difficult before the ability to print was created, he said.

"There wasn't any 'Google' then," Gore joked.

Johannes Gutenberg's printing press invention was a catalyst for progress, Gore said.

"All of a sudden, one person could write out a set of ideas and have it set in type and then by tomorrow morning there could be hundreds of copies, and by next week thousands...one individual could reach many others," he explained.

Gore pointed out that the printing press was banned throughout the Ottoman Empire and suggested that the legacy of this action is still apparent in Islamic countries.

"Democracy does not appear very commonly in the Arabic world today," Gore said.

Gore described television as the "big kahuna" of media.

"There's something about TV that's just a little bit hypnotic," he said, referring to statistics that show the average American watches four hours of television every day. "It's so dominant now, it's incredible."

Gore pointed to the fall of 1962 as when the "lines crossed" and television became the dominant source of news.

"The last of the third broadcast networks went from 15 to 30 minutes in their evening newscasts," Gore said, and as a result afternoon newspapers began to disappear.

"Most cities became one newspaper towns, they became monopolies," he said.

Gore lamented the fact that television is not accessible to the average American as a communications medium. He asked how a modern-day Thomas Paine or Martin Luther would share their messages.

"How do we communicate with others through the medium of television?" he asked.

His answer was a demonstration, where protesters attempt to attract television cameras.

"We've gone from the Federalist Papers...to trying to get three words on a sign in front of a camera," Gore said.

Several rhetorical questions Gore asked sought to consider the implications of television's dominance.

"We spend a lot of time watching," he said.

"What does it do to us that has relevance to democracy? Does it encourage pA*ivity? Is it connected to this obesity epidemic? Does it relate to Robert Putman's data about the decline of community? If people are just staring at a little box for four hours a day, it has a big impact on democracy."

Gore also discussed the economic reality of cable television.

"All of a sudden now, there's a new economic incentive to identify particular cable operations with niches or, with points of view," he said.

Due to the need for advertisers, Gore said programmers aim at a particular audience but claim to be completely unbiased.

"That's a balancing act that more than one of them are engaged in," he said.

Earlier this year, media reports suggested that Gore was seeking to establish a cable network that would counteract the popular Fox News Channel. He indirectly referenced the cable news network multiple times during the lecture.

Gore also commented on the media's coverage of the war in Iraq and pointed out that dissenting opinions were largely ignored by the mainstream media.

"News has become a commodity, and point of view is the value-added for some newscasts," Gore said. "That means that is dangerous to disturb the audience with something that's not predictable. And the easiest thing to predict is a patriotic fervor."

Freshman LaToya Outlaw agreed with Gore's perceptions of television's dominance.

"I have a better understanding of media and democracy now," she said.

A second lecture featuring Gore will take place Wednesday, Nov. 25. It will discuss the intersection of race and democracy.