When the big social media corporations suspended President Donald Trump's accounts after his supporters had sacked the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, the ongoing international debate about digital media, the rise of populism, and the crisis of 'Western' democracy reached a new climax. It was, however, but the latest round of a discussion on how media and democratic political culture interact with each other that is just as much an integral part of the history of democracy as is the question of what the forms, functions, and legitimacy of political journalism in liberal democracies are. Over the last 250 years, crises and transition periods have always also been key moments of political journalism that triggered these controversies time and again. The positions taken and the answers given were different in the different historical contexts.
Deadline for proposals: May 31, 2021