Journalism and public discourse: Navigating complexity

Modern democratic societies have come to depend on some form of foundational assumptions about the involvement of the public in political decision-making. This inscribing of a public, defined as wider than the legislative and judicial bodies themselves, into journalism was key to both the legitimation of democratic processes and as a conduit to knowledge of the decision-making processes themselves. While journalism has long presented a public-facing discourse that defines its role as an intermediary between the public and the powerful, informing the former and challenging the latter, the nuances of this role have been varied. Journalism's claims have often rested on broad and noble-sounding commitments to service of the public. A fertile departure point for considering the public discourse of a specific form of journalism is the popular tabloid newspaper. Once analysis of the substance and patterning of media language began to be introduced, certain of the long-held claims for the public functions of journalism came under more sustained scrutiny.