Democratic media


Democratic media is a form of media organization that strives to have the principles of democracy underlying not only the production of content, but also the organization of the entire project.

Definition of the term

Democratic Media is the idea that the media should be organised along democratic lines rather that strictly commercial lines. A functioning democratic media would aim for transparency, inclusiveness, one-person-one-vote and other key concepts of democracy as principals of operation: "This is a media whose primary objectives are to inform, be open, independent and be accountable." This is in contrast to the belief that media should be run by commercial operations and with the objective of making a profit and the assumption that the media invariably reflects the opinions and values of the owner and advertisers. Advocates contrast it to state-run operations where the media reflects the value system of the state itself. Edward S Herman suggested the form that democratic media would take:

Background of the term

The idea of democratic media stems from the belief that media is a vital part of a democratic society. Robert W. McChesney, writing for the Boston Review in 2008, commented:
To therefore, if media is vital for democracy, democratic media argues that media itself needs to be organized along different lines to the existing forms. McChesney again:
The idea of democratic media is still in its infancy, according to Carroll & Hackett concepts such as citizen media, media democracy and independent media in that it puts as much emphasis on the organization of the media project as it does on the content. For a media project to be considered democratic media it must have the following characteristics: