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Beyond Gatekeeping: Propaganda, Democracy, And The Organization Of Digital Publics, Jennifer Forestal
Beyond Gatekeeping: Propaganda, Democracy, And The Organization Of Digital Publics, Jennifer Forestal
Political Science: Faculty Publications and Other Works
While there is disagreement as to the severity of the digital disinformation problem, scholars and practitioners have largely coalesced around the idea that a new system of safeguards is needed to prevent its spread. By minimizing the role of citizens in managing their own communities, however, I argue that these gatekeeping approaches are undemocratic. To develop a more democratic alternative, I draw from the work of Harold D. Lasswell and John Dewey to argue that we should study the organization of digital publics. For citizens to engage in democratic inquiry, publics must be organized so that they can (1) easily …