Fake democracy, bad news

Authors

  • Natalie Fenton Goldsmiths, University of London
  • Des Freedman Goldsmiths, University of London

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.11606/issn.2316-9125.v23i1p107-126

Keywords:

free media, democracy, communication, fake democracy

Abstract

Media and democracy, like Cagney and Lacey or Starsky and Hutch, are inseparable. You just cannot have one without the other. The free exchange of ideas, information, and symbols that nourish citizens and replenish the system as a whole has long been seen as a central foundation of democratic societies. Indeed, a complex normative paraphernalia has emerged to describe the key responsibilities placed on media in the emergence and sustenance of democracy: as an independent watchdog and monitor of unchecked power, a tribune of the people, a defender of minorities, a fourth estate, and a public sphere. The free media is said to provide the oxygen, the lubrication or indeed the sinews of a fully functioning and robust democracy.

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Author Biographies

  • Natalie Fenton, Goldsmiths, University of London
    Professor of Media and Communications; co-Director of Goldsmiths Leverhulme Media Research Centre; co-Director of the Centre for the Study of Global Media and Democracy; Goldsmiths, University of London
  • Des Freedman, Goldsmiths, University of London
    Professor of the Department of Media and Communications, Goldsmiths, University of London

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Published

2018-06-07

Issue

Vol. 23 No. 1 (2018): Fake democracy, journalism and educommunication

Section

International Articles

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How to Cite

Fenton, N., & Freedman, D. (2018). Fake democracy, bad news. Comunicação & Educação, 23(1), 107-126. https://doi.org/10.11606/issn.2316-9125.v23i1p107-126