Democracy and the Media – Without Foundations

In exploring whether or not the free and equal communication of citizens is a feasible ideal at the end of the twentieth century, this article presents a new account of the importance of the media to democracy. It offers a revised interpretation of the public service model of communications, in a risk-ridden society, and spells out the implications of these arguments for conventional views of democracy. After considering and rejecting foundationalist and relativist accounts of democracy, it offers a novel conception of democracy as a project of flexibly controlling the exercise of power.