cial nature of the newspaper was responsible for many of its faults and that the press bad become so distinctively big business that it was inextricably linked to all the other big businesses (Rivers 2).
These earlier attacks were minimal compared to what followed in the mid-twentieth century as the importance of mass communication in daily life became obvious. Nearly everyone is convinced that the mass media, good or bad, is central to modern society. As James Reston wrote:
"The Nineteenth Century was the era of the novelist. The Twentieth is the era of the journalist. A distracted people, busy with the fierce competitions of modern life, must be addressed while they are paying attention, which is usually at the moment of some great national or international event" (Rivers 3).
And, although we have lived within this new media environment for only a few decades, editor Willian F. Fore of The Christian Century writes that some of its characteristics are becoming clear.
First, society has become increasingly dependent on mediated communication: m
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