The Associated Press reports an interesting and readable speech by Al Gore on the problematic interaction of the American media and democracy:

I came here today because I believe that American democracy is in grave danger. It is no longer possible to ignore the strangeness of our public discourse . I know that I am not the only one who feels that something has gone basically and badly wrong in the way America’s fabled “marketplace of ideas” now functions.

Al Gore speech on democracy and the media