ABSTRACT
This book focuses on the influence of changes in media and communication on democracy in Europe. In particular, we focus on deliberative democracy with a strong emphasis on communication. Although any type of democracy is necessarily based on citizens' information on government-related topics, and the topic of media and democracy has been one of the ‘most intensively ploughed areas in media studies’ deliberative democracy has not been empirically investigated in relation to the media system. Democracy is a changing institution, and we are witnesses to both the decline and renewal of democracy in Europe and elsewhere. Normative expectations of democracy are also changing. Deliberative democracy, sometimes criticized for its unrealistic expectations, is perhaps more feasible now when the spread of the voice (if not rationality) of people is much easier with new media platforms and social media. This book analyses the relationship between the media system – understood in a broad sense to refer to media-related structures and agents that operate within a society, with deliberative democracy as the most advanced idea (or ideal) of a democratic government and a normative goal for the media.
