In The Paradox of Democracy: New Media and the Eternal Problem of Politics Sean Illing and Zac
Gershberg argue that although free speech and media has always been a necessary condition of
democracy that very freedom also is its greatest threat. Free speech gives those who would
destroy democracy license to mislead the public using whatever forms of media are available.
New forms of media offer opportunities to both supporters and critics of democracy. Reaching
back to the ancient Greeks and continuing through media disruptions such as the invention of
the printing press the growth of yellow journalism and mass circulation newspapers to new
media today they contend that democracies have always been unsettled by changes in media. The
authors trace how each of these changes have challenged democracy by providing new ways of
talking about politics and of reaching audiences with often unsettling effects. They conclude
by exploring what kinds of communication facilitates and defends democracy as changing
technology overwhelms older forms of communication--
