Public Discussion in Media as a Democratic Space Characterized by Plurality

This chapter continues characterizing the public discussion in media in the twenty-first century as a democratic space. The chapter argues that public discussions are often perceived as a characteristic of democratic societies, but public discussion—where it exists—is also itself characteristically a place of plurality of voices governed by no sole authority. Thanks to the Internet, media-based public discussions have become more plural than in the times of exclusively produced mass media, making the ordinary media users both potential content creators and consumers. However, the contradiction between the capitalist economy and the democratic society materialized in the commercial media sphere disrupts the plurality of the contemporary media-based public discussion.