For the next couple of days I’ll be kicking around ideas about journalism and democracy. Here are some borrowed thoughts for starters (and, no, I don’t agree with each and every one): Reading newspapers, and perhaps writing to them, public meetings, and solicitations of different sorts addressed to the political authorities, are the extent of…

It’s a question that tends to assume there’s only one answer – yes. Journalism is both an information source and a watchdog. Without it, democracy would seize up. So is it true? I think the answer might actually be – no. And the reason has more to do with our democracy than with our journalism.…