Internet fora can’t replace newspapers

Considerable discussion has taken place about the influence of internet forums on politics.

My experience of such fora is that they too-frequently involve virulent personal abuse, racism, class warfare and the advocacy of outright anarchy.

If, as many forecast, the internet is to replace old media as the forum for democratic discourse then it could be argued that it is only a matter of time before our democratic institutions are replaced by totalitarian rule.