Far fewer people read a newspaper
or an online alternative today than 30 years ago. I'll take someone who read one of those stories that passed through gatekeepers like the Calgary Herald over someone today who doesn't read anything at all about public affairs and relies on Facebook updates as their window to the world.
People today are simply less interested in public affairs. With such an enormous amount of entertainment options, from Netflix and PS4 to posting pictures on Facebook and tweeting about movie stars, the difficult and often boring world of politics and public policy can't compete.
When people do consume news, they seek out the most sensationalist, frivolous, and abbreviated version they can find. The weekends update on SNL used to be a comical satire of the news. For a great many people today, that kind of infotainment is their
only source of news.
Look at the
presidential debate from 1980 and tell me people today are just as well informed or interested in listening to complex arguments. And at the time, Reagan was considered a populist lightweight. He comes across like Abraham Lincoln compared to candidates today.