The paradox of democracy Free speech, open media, and perilous persuasion

As free speech advocates strain to reconcile the unparalleled access to information and the expression of ideas made possible by the internet with their undeniable potential for political, psychological, and even physical harm, Gershberg (Idaho State Univ.) and Illing (host, Vox Conversations podcast) have come to say that these advocates are pushing a Sisyphean boulder up a mountainside. The paradox of democracy is this: the free and open communication that defines democracy also invites the exploitation and subversion of democracy from within. Despite palliatives, such as media literacy and local journalism, there is no fix to this inherent contradiction of democracy. To demonstrate this point, the authors take readers back to ancient Greece, where the emergence of the world's first democracy coincided with the "dawn of bullshit" (p. 36), and proceed to zip through history at breakneck speed, slowing down only at the rise of European fascism in the 20th century. The American experience is chronicled through the COVID pandemic and the January 6 insurrection. Though the authors insist that democracy is the best system there is, they clearly doubt, in Benjamin Franklin's words, "we can keep it." Bleak, indeed. Summing Up: Recommended. Undergraduates through faculty. --Eric Bennett Easton, emeritus, University of Baltimore

If democracy seems imperiled, don't blame only cable news and social media. Two media experts argue that it has always lurched from crisis to crisis. Gershberg, a journalism and media studies professor, and Illing, a Vox reporter and podcaster, challenge the idea that the linchpin of democracy is a set of rules or institutions, such as safeguards for free elections or laws that protect civil rights. In this dense history of the intersection of politics, democracy, and free expression, the authors argue that "the essential democratic freedom" is freedom of expression. That freedom leads to "the paradox of democracy"--"a free and open communication environment…because of its openness, invites exploitation and subversion from within." Fascists like Mussolini and injustices like Jim Crow laws arise because open communication allows people to persuade others to support their aims, and it's been that way for millennia. In ancient Athens, Socrates' death sentence was "democracy's original sin": A city known for free speech condemned a philosopher for speaking freely. Moving chronologically through the centuries, Gershberg and Illing show how their "paradox" has played out in movements that include the Reformation, the Enlightenment, the American Revolution, the rise and fall of local newspapers, the ascent of cable news and social media, and the eruption of the "cancel culture." Viewing democracy as inherently messy, the authors offer no global blueprint for fixing the chaos, and their few suggestions are overfamiliar, including their call for "the restoration of local journalism, especially print newspapers." A flat narrative also works against their worthwhile material: The authors don't develop or expand their thesis so much as elaborate on the same paradox, again and again, and how it informed successive eras. The result is a book that provides valuable context for the latest assaults on democracy but one that, with a more effective structure, could have reached a general readership. A clear and informative history with limited appeal for nonspecialists. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.