Communication in the Twenty-first Century

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Recommended: Roles of media in democratic society

The history of communication is a long and glorious story from the primitive carvings of ancient peoples to the flat bed press, the web perfecting press to the high speed presses of today that churn out news for the maintenance of the democracy. The United States has been dependent on accurate information ever since the inception of this great nation. Information made men free and challenged all those who wished to suppress the news to live up to the democratic ideals upon which this nation was founded. In fact information is so important to this democracy that the Bill of Rights begins with the axiom of a free press. In countless countries throughout the world where fledgling democracies have attempted to flourish, those that would suppress freedom of speech, attack newspaper offices first because it is the intrepid newspaper reporters and editors who bring the news to the people. Now more than ever these harbingers of truth need to be heard.

Consider the current headlines. A Tracy woman killed an eight year old girl. Who found out she was the killer? The answer is as plain as black and white: a reporter who interviewed the suspect found inconsistencies in her story and reported these inconsistencies to the police (Bulwa, Fagan). So it was not the police that found the murderer. It was not an aware neighbor who led the police to the perpetrator. It was not an investigative team from the FBI that uncovered the culprit. The young journalist from the local Tracy newspaper researched, asked the right questions and discovered inconsistencies that ultimately led to the arrest of the killer. This same sort of investigation led the revolutionary journalists to print headlines that read "No taxation without representation". This same ...

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...2009: Web. 5 March 2010. hillsboroargus/2009/04/fingers_pointed_at_verizon_aft.html>. Cote, John and Taylor, Michael. “250,000 Reward in Phone Cable Vandalism.” San Francisco Chronicle 11 April 2009: A1. Web. 5 March 2010. article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/04/11/MNJB170JM7.DTL>. Emery, Edwin. The Press America. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 1988. Print.

Robinson, Sara. “Cut in Fiber Cable Disrupts Internet Traffic Nationwide.” New York Times 30 September 1999: Web. 5 March 2010. .

Tran, Mark. “Internet Access Cut Off in Burma.” Manchester Guardian 12 April 2009: Web.

5 March 2010. .

“Two Undersea Internet Cables Off Egypt, UAE Repaired.” Reuters. The Times of India 12 April 2009: Web. 5 March 2010. .

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