Why democracies need an unlovable press, Michael Schudson (Book Review)

Abstract

There’s been a publishing boom in recent years in volumes pursuing the special relationship between media and democracy. Many hit the mark, but few hit it so convincingly and enjoyably, and in so few pages, as Schudson’s bluntly and cleverly titled ‘Why Democracies Need an Unlovable Press’. Unusually, its 147 pages are aimed more at informed lay readers than academics, but the latter can’t help but take pleasure in this caper around themes that, while familiar, are tackled in novel ways. Schudson’s two main theses are clear: first, Western nations need an unsympathetic, even ‘unlovable’, press every bit as much as the separation of powers or free, fair and frequent elections and, second, journalists must eschew their own cynicism and take democracy and its institutions more seriously. On the one hand, Schudson takes swipes at news gatherers and politicians in equal measure; on the other, he defends each with an old-fashioned gallantry.