Walter Lippmann’s Public Opinion (1922) is a landmark of media criticism and political theory. Drawing on his experience as a journalist, Lippmann argues that citizens act not on the world itself but on the “pictures in our heads” — mental images shaped by the press, stereotypes, and limited attention. He examines how news is gathered, simplified, and filtered before it ever reaches the public.
The book introduced the idea of the manufacture of consent and questioned whether ordinary voters can truly grasp the complex realities of modern government. Essential reading on journalism, propaganda, and democracy, it remains startlingly relevant to debates about misinformation today. Download the free EPUB of this foundational study of the modern media age.