News about democracy from around the world

What we're about, what we do and who we are

The Debate

Join our discussions about democracy, politics and media

Library

(Almost) all you need to know about democracy

10 Questions

Video Q&A with celebs, politicians and people-on-the-street

Why Democracy on MySpace

Visit our MySpace for videos, music and more online discussions

Democracy News

This is the global news and analysis blog of Why Democracy House, part of the largest factual multimedia event in the world: Ten new documentaries about democracy broadcast worldwide between Oct. 8 and 18.

Or join us elsewhere on the web:

Flickr | Writer's Cafe

YouTube | Myspace

Facebook | Blogspot

About the Author

Biographical

Norwegian journalist/editor/blogger specializing in media and journalism topics.

Topics

Pakistan Europe Latin America torture Russia president China Africa Zimbabwe USA elections human rights Burma democracy 10 Questions

more tags

Subscribe to this site

Web debates and civility

: Function eregi() is deprecated in /usr/www/users/whydem/house/news/themes/whydem/page.tpl.php on line 11.
warning: Parameter 1 to theme_field() expected to be a reference, value given in /usr/www/users/whydem/house/news/includes/theme.inc on line 170.
warning: Parameter 1 to theme_field() expected to be a reference, value given in /usr/www/users/whydem/house/news/includes/theme.inc on line 170.

posted by Olav Anders Øvrebø at 10h03 GMT on Oct 11

One of the most important aspects of the web is how it has increased the possibility for people to participate in public debate. It's hard to find anyone today who will deny that the web has made it so much easier to contribute your opinion on almost any topic. Almost everyone who consider themselves democrats will think this is a good thing. When you participate in the public sphere, you are learning how to act democratically. Participation strengthens democracy, many liberal thinkers have concluded.

So the web should be one of the best things that have happened to democracy for a very long time, right? Maybe it is; I think so, at least. But increasing participation also produces some new and so far unsolved problems. Debates on the web can be ugly, anonymous participants hurling abuse at each other and frequently proving Mike Godwin right. Is this really the future of democracy? Sometimes it looks more like ochlocracy.

News organisations are traditionally the most important institutions of the public sphere. How do they tackle the question of civility in debates on their websites? Even today many prefer the easy solution: They keep the readers out. But even the most conservative of newspaper editors must have realized by now that this is a dead end. It also runs contrary to the idea of newspapers – who should be for increased participation, if not journalists and editors?

Tags:

Comments:

Certainly a topic that is

Submitted by Just browsing (not verified) on Thu, 10/11/2007 - 10:19.

Certainly a topic that is very important to think about. The web definitely does provide a massive base for global interaction. Facilitating those debates are probably more important than just getting people online.

Despite the web being a communication tool for millions, it still excludes a mass of people that are continually marginalised in the information society. Those who have computers and are online are privileged enough to have their say, but often it is often the ones who can't communicate that are the ones worth listening to.

Post new comment

Web debates and civility

Comments:

Comment viewing options