Lawrence K. Grossman, The Shape of the Electronic Republic

Lawrence K. Grossman,
"The Shape of the Electronic Republic"

Lawrence K. Grossman (b. 1931) is a longtime television journalist, former president of NBC News, and former president and CEO of PBS (Public Broadcasting Service). He has taught at the University of Miami and Harvard, where he held the Frank Stanton Chair on the First Amendment at the John F. Kennedy School of Government. Grossman has given talks and published articles about emerging electronic media in journals such as the Columbia Journalism Review and the Media Studies Journal, and he is the author of Somehow It Works: A Candid Portrait of the 1964 Presidential Election (Doubleday, 1965). This selection is from his 1995 book, The Electronic Republic: Reshaping Democracy in the Information Age (Viking Penguin).

"The Shape of the Electronic Republic" (Composing Cyberspace p. 203) is not available online.

1. What are the major components of the "servicable portrait of the electronic republic" (¶ 8) that Grossman intends to paint? Since 1994-1995, when Grossman's book was going to print, how much closer to reality do you think any of these components has come?

2. Despite his objective-sounding description of "keypad democracy," how does Grossan reveal his own opinion of that vision?

3. What objections to keypad democracy does Grossman acknowledge, and how does he respond to these objections? What other social and political obstacles to achieving this vision, not mentioned by Grossman, can you anticipate? For example, what does Grossman appear to assume about how access to, or distribution of, electronic resources will evolve in the near future? How persuaded are you that increased electronic access can lead to real grassroots democracy?

4. If you have e-mail, test some of Grossman's ideas by writing both a regular letter and an e-mail message expressing your opinion on a current issue to the President, your senator, or your representative (or in Canada or another country, to the analogous elected government officials). Share the results with fellow readers. How accessible and responsive did you find these officials? How would you compare the process, effectiveness, and responses you got in the two media?

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