The media has been getting a bad rap lately. Everything from CNN and The Power Rangers to Rikki Lake has been branded as threatening to the fabric of civilization as the Soviet Empire, homosexuality, and jazz were in the not-so-distant past. I have endeavoured to prove here that, in spite of our fears, media is itself becoming the new fabric of our civilization, and stands a chance of restoring the long-forgotten privileges of participation, tolerance, and community.
Take the O.J. Simpson media trial. From the beginning -- as far as the viewing public was concerned -- this media blitz had nothing to do with whether O.J. actually killed anybody. That was a
