ABSTRACT
THE MASS MEDIA Politics, like commerce, requires that people be able to make their wishes known to each other. Commercial activity in America has expanded from local, to regional, to national, to global as the means to move information and goods has improved over time. Similarly, the scale and organization of politics are dependent upon how far and how fast information about people, policies, and platforms can be moved. If information circulates only within isolated communities, politics will be mostly local, but if information flows over great distances instantaneously, politics will be national and many issues will capture global attention. Our modern world is awash in information.
