Search

The article considers the formation and influence of the fourth estate of government, ie independent journalism, on anti-corruption and de-oligarchic state initiatives in the democratic political system of the United States for the period 1890-1920. In the early twentieth century, in the United States lasted transformational processes for the democratization of the political system, which had no world analogues: the abolition of social society and rethinking social ideals in the nineteenth century led to the emergence of industrial oligarchs and total corruption in political circles. The emergence of investigative journalism as a genre and its publication in small independent magazines, journals and small publishing houses has led to waves of state anti-corruption and de-oligarchization measures, which today form the basis of many US democratic institutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aimed at reinforcing the democratic values of freedom of speech and increased diversity in civic access to the means of communication, this paper examines the concept of democracy within an information and communication technology-mediated context. Discussion proceeds with an analysis of orthodox views adopted by Jefferson and the architects of the American Constitution. Building on the Jeffersonian tradition, a critique is presented of present-day, non-transparent constraints on the democratic values of freedom of speech, information access and the structural constrains mitigating unfettered public access to critical information and debate on fundamental social and political issues of the day. The proposed 'custodiary' model for the new Democratic Project is premised on the development of a constitutional framework which encourages information diversity and freedom of access and expression as a way of bringing back 'discourse' into democratic praxis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]