American media wants to save democracy. Is it helping?
Earlier this year, the editors of the Journal of Democracy decided it was time for their no-frills intellectual magazine, published by Johns Hopkins University Press, to start publishing online.
At the time, Russia was gathering forces to topple the young democracy in neighboring Ukraine. Many Americans were still shaken by widespread efforts to overturn the 2020 election on behalf of Donald Trump. With democracy also faltering in many other countries around the world, the journal’s quarterly print schedule no longer seemed fast enough to keep up with reader demand.
“If I can’t convince you about the essentialness of wrestling with questions of democracy and authoritarianism today, when can I?” said co-editor Will Dobson. “There’s ample evidence that democracy is under stress today, and this is an opportune moment for us to expand our coverage.”
In recent years, an increasingly pronounced pro-democracy movement has been gathering strength inside U.S. media and the liberal intelligentsia as polls repeatedly show deep concern among the public about the future of America’s longtime system of self-rule. But not everyone
