We are living in a golden age for media.

Well apparently so,according to Adam Thierer in the City Journal.(Thanks to Times online comment for the initial lead and link.)

Adam suggests that

"Throughout most of history, humans lived in a state of extreme information poverty."

But now

"we live in a world of unprecedented media abundance that once would have been the stuff of science-fiction novels. We can increasingly obtain and consume whatever media we want, wherever and whenever we want: television, radio, newspapers, magazines, and the bewildering variety of material available on the Internet."

Adam blames the left for fostering a climate where the "media cornucopia"is derided for giving us less choice than we think thus making information scarce and secondly that too many outlets make it difficult to "share common thoughts or feelings"

"The report is based on the United States which has a bewildering amount of media outlets."

• 14 million radio stations
• 500 satellite Tv Stations available in 82%of households
• 18267 magazines.

Of course multiplicity doesnt necessarily mean diversity,(just flick through the channels on your Sky Box) but Adam backs up his argument with facts such as

"Nor do Americans lack a rich variety of “voices” in the media. Each new commercial media outlet must provide something at least slightly different from its rivals. If every book, magazine, TV channel, radio program, and website really said the same thing, citizens wouldn’t bother consuming any more than one or two of them. We simply wouldn’t have the media abundance that we enjoy today."

He maintains that informed citizen is so much easier today,not withstanding the internet

"You can get up in the morning and still read your (probably liberal) local paper and several national ones—say, the Wall Street Journal (right-of-center editorial page) and USA Today (more or less centrist). Walk to the newsstand and you’ve got political magazines galore, from the Marxist New Left Review to the paleoconservative The American Conservative. On cable and satellite television: CNN, MSNBC, CNBC, FOX News, PBS, local news, the big networks (at least for now), the BBC, C-SPAN, community access shows—all offer a wide variety of news and information options, some around the clock. Turn on the car radio and Rush Limbaugh or Sean Hannity booms out at you from the right; or maybe you can tune in to Sirius Left on satellite."

Quite why he thinks that the left is denying this state of affairs is rather baffling,although perhaps there is an American version of Polly Toynbee.

What do we think and can we say the same about the Uk.