POLL: How central to democracy are newspapers?

Please VOTE in our POLL:

How central to democracy are newspapers - some of which are being lost to
budget cuts and other changes - as opposed to blogs, YouTube, emails, text
messaging, twittering, and the like?

* Pivotal - informed public debate is impossible without this kind of
quality platform and trained journalistic practice.
* Of some importance - we need both traditional newspapers and new media
voices/venues to sustain conversations conducive to transparency.
* Unimportant - the internet and other technologies have enabled
participation on the part of both citizens and journalists by trade,
making open journalistic debate both possible and popular. This is the
essence of democracy.

VOTE and COMMENT at
http://www.comminit.com/en/node/288615/348

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RESULTS thus far (August 14):

46%: Pivotal - informed public debate is impossible without this kind of
quality platform and trained journalistic practice.

41%: Of some importance - we need both traditional newspapers and new
media voices/venues to sustain conversations conducive to transparency.

14%: Unimportant - the internet and other technologies have enabled
participation on the part of both citizens and journalists by trade,
making open journalistic debate both possible and popular. This is the
essence of democracy.