Dewey

Dewey's ideas were very interesting to read. His comments about men needing to be social and work with one another to be true "men" are interesting because I agree that people are meant to work with one another. The government should not be an elite body of people that the public feel's they cannot connect with. The public needs to have more of a say about what is going on in the world. Dewey's passion for the "duty of the public" was inspiring but not exactly realistic. In a perfect world everyone would help each other out with correcting facts and making sure everyone had the right information, but in the real world, especially of online journalism a lot of people post information on the internet that isn't true for personal entertainment. This is difficult to deal with because many times people read information online that they truly believe, and it is not true at all. Dewey writes, "Democratic participation is not only viewed as a bulwark against government by elites, but also as an aspect of individual freedom.” For people living in the United States this statement holds true. Going online is a free space that anyone can choose to enter and choose to follow. Public inquiry can be utilized online, but it can also be a negative thing when people post information on the internet that is not true. For example, there are still people in the world that think that Obama is a Muslim, when he has publicly stated that is not true. I think that many of Dewey's ideas are still relevant, especially when it comes to online journalism, but it is important to notice the things that don't work well online, like reversing false information. Dewey talks a lot about democracy and the public being a democratic system where everyone has a right to information. In online journalism though information is not always democratically distributed. Ideally any citizen could become a reporter but they still do not have the contacts and opportunities that a news station has in terms of connection to information and press. So, even though any citizen can go online and post what they want to that doesn't mean it will be relevant or valid. I was pleased to read that Dewey is an anti-elitist. I agree that a few "wise" men do not have enough information to decide what is best for the public. A few men do not have the knowledge to know what is best for people they do not even know. That is a positive thing about online journalism, anyone can get online and tell people what is going on in their life and other people could have similar problems and then people can help one another. Dewey's ideas about inquiry are still important because people with similar interests and ideas should always be talking with one another to make each other more knowledgeable. Online journalism today still involves many of the aspects of Dewey's political and social beliefs. Online journalism allows for the public to get involved with one another and with what is going on in the world. But, online journalism also includes false information which people need to be on the look out for.