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The "echo chamber" effect is all well and good, but to suggest that the Internet is part of that problem is absurd.
The Internet provides instant access to all forms of opinions and journalism. That people CHOOSE not to use it in that way has nothing to do with the Internet and everything to do with the PEOPLE.
This has not changed. In the pre-Internet days, the very same people who are interested in reading/seeing a wide array of opinions had a much harder time doing so. They'd have to buy books, really, or seek out "alternative" press outlets. In many parts of America, there's no market for those perspectives.
The Internet permits you to read O'Reilly about a given subject and then instantly go check out what Keillor has to say.
So most people don't do that. Surprise surprise. Most people really aren't interested in the functioning of the republic, either.
That's the "problem" that we should be talking about, not the Internet. The Internet is at best a symptom.
(Purely visceral response--that guy's a bonehead.)
