Walter Lippmann on why publics misjudge

JAN 28 2026

A lecture-style episode on Lippmann's Public Opinion, published in 1922, and its account of how opinion actually forms. Lippmann's argument was that stereotypes are unavoidable because attention and time are scarce, and that the press cannot supply the picture democratic theory assumes citizens have. That diagnosis is the root from which both public relations and modern media criticism grew.