HW 3: Summary of "Toward a More Participatory Democracy"

When reading “Toward a More Participatory Democracy,” written by David Kline, I felt as though blogs were more than just thoughts and ideas. Blogs were also the source of important debates, such as the media and presidential elections. It is often said that information from the media is not completely accurate. Kline stated that almost half of the American population does not fully believe everything they hear from the media, such as the news. Blogs have opened up many doors for the media world. Americans today tend to believe that most blogs have accurate information, but also present an argument. In the 2004 elections, blogs were especially big. More people visited blogs for presidential information in one month than people visited Fox News Online. Some individuals believe that blogs have no importance. One of these individuals is Frank Barnako of CBS.MarketWatch.com who stated, “Political blogging is like Ralph Nader. Nobody pays attention.” People do pay attention and trust the information of blogs. I think that blogs are still in the early stages of development. Blogs have already shown the massive impact they have on our society. It’s only a matter of time before blogs truly hit it big. I wonder though how this will affect our society in years to come. In this segment, I learned that more people trust blogs over the news. Since this is true, what will happen in the future for major news broadcasting companies? Will I guess only time will tell.