Digitizing Democracy (Routledge Studies in Media, Communication, and Politics)

What are the key challenges facing our increasingly digitized democracy, and how might we as citizens contribute to resolving them? This book explores these questions, adopting a multi-disciplinary approach that combines work from media studies, journalism studies, and political science scholars, and draws on trends in countries including Australia, the United States, the United Kingdom, Egypt, and Indonesia. The book is divided into four main themes: (1) the impact of digital communication on politics and government; (2) the future of news and journalism in the network society; (3) the potential of digital media to enhance civic engagement and social inclusion; and (4) visions for the future of digital democracy.

Aljosha Karim Schapals is a Lecturer in Journalism and Political Communication at the Queensland University of Technology in Brisbane, Australia, and a Research Associate in the “Journalism beyond the Crisis” project funded by the Australian Research Council.

Axel Bruns is a Professor in the Digital Media Research Centre at Queensland University of Technology, Australia. His latest book is Gatewatching and News Curation: Journalism, Social Media, and the Public Sphere.

Brian McNair is the author of many books and essays on journalism, including Fake News (Routledge, 2018), Introduction to Political Communication (6th edition, Routledge, 2017), and Communication and Political Crisis (Peter Lang, 2016).