Information Resources and Democracy: Understanding the Paradox

Americans have long cherished the notion that democratic political participation requires an informed citizenry, and that to be informed we must have ready access to the information we need. Does discourse really exist in the current information environment? Does access to information sources and communication media equal dialogue? What is the relation between information resources and democracy? The six articles collected in this special issue of JASIS consider these questions to be problematic and of central importance to information and communication studies.