Hence even if we discount the influence of private interests in procuring suppression, secrecy and misrepresentation, we have here an explanation of the triviality and “sensational” quality of so much of what passes as news.
Dewey critiques the sensational nature of news, attributing it to the lack of thorough inquiry.
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But the wingèd words of conversation in immediate intercourse have a vital import lacking in the fixed and frozen words of written speech.
That and that only gives reality to public opinion.
Publication is partial and the public which results is partially informed and formed until the meanings it purveys pass from mouth to mouth.
Systematic and continuous inquiry into all the conditions which affect association and their dissemination in print is a precondition of the creation of a true public.