On Point with Meghna Chakrabarti Can democracy survive without reading?
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Nov 25, 2025 
James Marriott, a columnist and author exploring culture and politics, joins Adam Garfinkel, a public policy expert, to discuss the alarming decline in reading. They argue that this trend threatens democracy, linking reduced literacy to the rise of populism and emotional political messaging. Marriott traces mass literacy's history and its role in challenging power, while Garfinkel highlights how superficial engagement erodes deep literacy. Together, they ponder if new media can adapt to support democratic values amidst growing pessimism.
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Literacy Undermined Image-Based Authority
- Mass literacy expanded access to detailed information and undermined reliance on visual, image-based authority.
- That shift enabled critique of power and seeded the intellectual basis for modern democracy.
Writing Enables Linear, Complex Thought
- Walter Ong argued written culture enables sustained linear argumentation and complex causal reasoning.
- Moving away from print toward oral/audiovisual media reduces that cooling, rationalizing effect on thought.
Secondary Orality Recreates Pre-Print Limits
- 'Secondary orality' recreates many limits of pre-print societies through audiovisual media.
- That environment favors more agonistic, emotional debate and less complex reasoning.
