The one thing journalism just might do for democracy: counterfactual idealism, liberal optimism, democratic realism

In this article, I discuss counterfactual idealism, liberal optimism, and democratic realism as different ways of thinking about journalism’s role in democracy. On the basis of a democratic realist reading of Michael Schudson’s essay on six or seven things journalism can do for democracy and emphasizing the importance of developing a normative approach (1) based on what actually-existing journalism could conceivably do for democracy, (2) that is rooted in something journalists actually want to do, and (3) that identifies something that is distinct to journalism specifically, I identify one thing journalism just might do for democracy: provide people with relatively accurate, accessible, diverse, relevant, and timely independently produced information about public affairs. This is a more modest ambition than the ones many harbour on journalism’s behalf—less, even, than what Schudson’s liberal optimism asks for. This, I argue, is a strength of a democratic realist approach. We do not get more from journalism simply by wishing for more. A central part of any normative argument is not simply the articulation of a number of “oughts” in the face of an “is”, but also a judgement about what is most important. For journalism’s role in democracy, that is providing information