Federalist Papers: The Autobiography Of Alexander Hamilton

In Paper #1 of the Federalist Papers, Alexander Hamilton calls on the American public to engage in a process of “reflection and choice”. By this, he means that he would like to see Americans foster political reflection in a public sphere. The face-to-face debate clubs and small-scale pamphleteering described by Benjamin Franklin in The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin is much more effective at promoting political reflection in the public sphere than the current mass media. The small-scale efforts were more effective because they encouraged personal debates. The mass media on the other hand, can tend to digress from the important issues and not delve enough into the political spectrum.
The debate clubs and pamphleteering that Benjamin Franklin described were effective due to the fact that they made an influence on everyone involved. The debate clubs were made to spark intense person to person debates. These discussions weren’t made for the sake of winning, but for the sake of compromise. Instead of arguing to a point, a consensus was made. Due to this personal involvement, anyone involved had the opportunity to make a political impact. One downside of these clubs was that the rich,
Due to the fact that mass media is in the business for profit, the stories they put out are sensational. Articles and headlines are usually presented as conflicts, and with flashy titles containing some sort of wordplay, such as “Terror on the Tarmac” , the current front page headline of the New York Daily News. On the other hand, the first story about the combat process in Iraq is on page 17 . The main objective for these newspapers is to turn a profit, and that is achieved by moving the most units. The best way to move units is by drawing customers in with exciting headlines, even if they’re not the most relevant