Navigating the Challenges of Media Accountability and Deliberative Communication in the Digital Era

Research on democratic societies has revealed significant challenges emerging in the third decade of the 21st century. These challenges primarily manifest as rising populism, increased societal polarization, and declining support for liberal democratic governance systems. Recent studies also point to a paradoxical trend: despite evidence of a democratic recession and the rise of authoritarian regimes globally, populations generally continue to support the core principles of democratic governance.

Concurrently, transformations in media ecosystems have eroded the capacity of professional media to fulfill its democratic functions. Employing an actor-agent approach to critically analyze how the media is affected by platformization and information overload, it becomes clear that the role of journalists as agents is weakening. Their ability to perform core functions—providing the public with verifiable information and holding those in power accountable—is increasingly under threat, with these functions now often performed by other actors. These transformations also impact the potential for deliberative communication, highlighting the need for equitable access to communication arenas and information on matters of common concern for all participants.

An analysis of the media ecosystem reveals significant shifts in the societal role of professional media, particularly with respect to two critical dimensions. First, the influence of traditional media in disseminating public knowledge has declined amid the rise of global social networking platforms, alternative media channels, and emerging content creators. Second, as a result, media organizations now face the dual challenge of strengthening audience relationships while simultaneously enhancing content quality and developing robust procedures to protect journalists.

In this context, two key questions have emerged:

1. How does the transformation of media and journalism affect the democratic condition of mediatized societies?
2. What structural, actor-related, and behavioral factors shape deliberative processes?

This Research Topic seeks to explore the role of professional media and journalists as central actors in modern deliberative communication. Specifically, it aims to examine how professional media and journalists can ensure that communicative interactions provide full and equal access to information, while also fostering spaces where ideas can be exchanged impartially and free from strategic manipulation.

The normative presumption is that deliberative communication, with its structure, actors, and content, serves as a key factor in defining and guaranteeing the quality of democracy. Fundamental concepts such as truth, trust, pluralism, and the media's fulfillment of their democratic functions are coming under increasing scrutiny. Many scholars have expressed concerns that societies are gradually losing consensus on the methods for arriving at the truth. Consequently, longstanding philosophical and sociological questions centered on social epistemology are becoming ever more important.

Professional media plays a crucial role in equipping society with the knowledge required for democratic participation and decision-making in the public interest. In response to the challenges posed by the digital era, media organizations are developing strategies that emphasize accountability, by integrating new measures into both regulatory and self-regulatory frameworks, as well as by strengthening audience engagement mechanisms.

Within this Research Topic, concepts such as platformization, the digital era, and the media ecosystem will be analyzed at both the macro level of media systems and the meso level of media activity. This article collection will address issues of media accountability and deliberative communication through two primary perspectives: external (media and audience/public relations) and internal (media organizations and journalists) mechanisms of accountability. The intersection of contemporary media accountability and deliberative communication is thus construed as an interaction between two closely related phenomena.

We encourage manuscripts based on original empirical research as well as critical analyses of theoretical approaches to media accountability. Themes of particular interest include, but are not limited to:

• normative and empirical factors of media accountability
• assessment of various levels of media accountability: social, international, political, and market accountability
• platformization, media accountability, and deliberative communication
• making sense of audience(s) or public(s) perceptions of media accountability
• arenas, trajectories, and scenarios for the development of deliberative communication
• media, journalists, and deliberative communication
• regulatory and self-regulatory aspects of media accountability
• media accountability management
• media accountability research methods and tools.

Information and Instructions for Authors

This Research Topic accepts any of the article types listed below, except for Editorial (Editorials are submitted exclusively by the Topic Editors).

Article types and fees

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

• Brief Research Report
• Conceptual Analysis
• Editorial
• FAIR² Data
• FAIR² DATA Direct Submission
• General Commentary
• Hypothesis and Theory
• Mini Review
• Opinion
• ... View all formats

Articles that are accepted for publication by our external editors following rigorous peer review incur a publishing fee charged to Authors, institutions, or funders.

Article types

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

• Brief Research Report
• Conceptual Analysis
• Editorial
• FAIR² Data
• FAIR² DATA Direct Submission
• General Commentary
• Hypothesis and Theory
• Mini Review
• Opinion
• Original Research
• Perspective
• Policy Brief
• Review

Keywords: media accountability, deliberative communication, platformization, democratic governance, journalistic agency

Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.