We seem to be entering a new era of yellow journalism, in which ad hominem attacks and conspiracy-mongering are more valued than truth and accuracy.
In my optimistic days as a young journalist, I believed that if only the public had access to more information the nation would enter a golden age of better government and more-thoughtful political debates. This was before the internet, cable news, and talk radio came into bloom—when newspaper and TV gatekeepers controlled what we’d read and hear.
