News is a conversation, the story we tell about ourselves. News influences history and shapes our personal lives. It warns us of danger and celebrates our triumphs. It can bind people together or tear them apart.

We are living through one of the most profound communication revolutions humanity has ever experienced.

“Between the dawn of civilization and 2003, five

exabytes of information were created. In the last two

days, five exabytes of information have been created,

and that rate is accelerating.”

Eric Schmidt, CEO of Google

The average American is exposed to somewhere between 650 and 3,000

advertising messages per day.

Google Answers

More than 822 billion text messages were sent and received during the last half of 2009 (that’s almost 5 billion per day).

More than 75 million active Web sites on the Internethttp://news.netcraft.com/archives/2009/01/16/january_2009_web_server_survey.html

The Economist

Kaiser Family Foundation Study, Jan. 2010

So, WHYIn an age of so much

information and communication…

Do we seem less informed, less sure and

more conflicted than ever?

Global climate change

NASA Research News: 2009: Second Warmest Year on Record; End of Warmest Decade

George Mason University/Yale University 2010Poll on Climate Change

Gallup Poll, March 11, 2010http://www.gallup.com/poll/126560/americans-global-warming-concerns-continue-drop.aspx

Iraq War

World Public Opinion.org

Confidence in government

Civic knowledge

Constant VigilanceSong of a citizen

Michael X. Delli Carpini