Prof. Dr. Judith Möller will give a presentation on “Das Kommunikations- und Mediensystem der Digitalgesellschaft: Eine sozialwissenschaftliche Perspektive” [The Communication and Media System of the Digital Society: A Social Science Perspective] at the anniversary conference of the Mainz Media Institute. Participants from science, politics, media and civil society will discuss the new communicative power of social media and its consequences for the media order.
From the Event Description
Democracies are under pressure. Around the world, established democratic forces are losing support, the binding power of social institutions is eroding, and authoritarian ideas are becoming more attractive. In particular, right-wing populists and extremists are on the rise. They attack democracies, claim they are dysfunctional, and use media channels with great skill to spread their positions. They deliberately break taboos and tell lies to attract attention. While these techniques for attacking democracies are not new, they pose unprecedented challenges to states and the European Union in the postmodern era. In an effort to address the situation, the EU and its member states are responding with increased efforts to protect democracy. This includes influencing opinion-forming processes. This is done, for example, through changes in criminal law, but also through reports on the protection of the constitution or the promotion of certain civil society actors. Media and platform regulation is also formulating stricter standards and developing new instruments to counter the risks of disinformation, disintegration and the violation of core legal interests (human dignity, personal rights, etc.) that have increased as a result of digital transformation.
In all of this, however, the question arises as to how much state intervention democratic communication processes can withstand. Does a concept of state protection of democracy presuppositions prevail or do measures intended to promote democracy actually undermine the freedom of public opinion formation that is necessary for democracy?
