Liberty and the news

Description

About this book

"Liberty and the news by Walter Lippmann" is a collection of political essays written in the early 20th century. It is a non-fiction tract that examines how freedom, public opinion, and journalism intersect, with a concise focus on the crisis of news reliability and its consequences for democratic self-government. The book argues that democracy cannot function without a steady flow of truthful, relevant, and intelligible news. It critiques the press for subordinating truth to patriotic edification, shows how classical defenses of free speech (from Milton and Mill to Russell) collapse when facts are missing, and explains how complexity, distance, and propaganda create a pseudo-environment that misleads the public and empowers demagogues. The author shifts the liberty debate from policing opinions to protecting the sources, organization, and comprehension of information.