He's certainly right about that. The more polemical and primitive the media become, the lower the level of public discourse sinks, and that really does harm democracy. After all, democracy doesn't consist only of elected representatives, but also of the people themselves. And the more stupidly they behave, the stupider the outcome. And sensationalist articles like the fuss over Florida Rolf (the costs for which are only a fraction of those for the ridiculous Eurofighter—yet he received far more space in the tabloid press) certainly don't help with opinion formation...
An important factor in a democratic society is functioning and critical press as a counterbalance to the state apparatus. The problem is that while our press is certainly critical, some of the unreflective drivel can hardly be called functioning.
Does every society get the press it deserves?
I found the original article at RP-Online: Multimedia.