Political campaigns in the late 1980s and 1990s have raised a host of new challenges for the media. The essays in this volume go beyond explaining those challenges, to purpose how the media can think and act to surmount them. The authors, in this volume, present an atmosphere of open debate and critics, for which democracy can survive. On the whole, the Great Republic coexists quite nicely with selfishness, greed, and the drive for votes on the one hand and market share on the other. But we have the right and perhaps the obligation to demand more from our press. We certainly do from our presidents, insisting that they reflect a great many of our values beyond the mere commitment to a free enterprise system. Can a press driven largely by the market place adequately report and judge the candidates for chief executive and the deeper values they represent? In 1992, that is a tough question. Democracy may indeed give us the leadership we deserve. But when it comes to the media, it may not be enough to get what we pay for.
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