Jeopardizing Democracy throughout History

It is the goal of this issue of Medien & Zeit to provide a glimpse on the long history of how media in their many different forms and variations, served as either and amplifier or even accomplice (for reasons of profit, influence, power or ideology), or in the contrary acted as an adversary to populist and radical politics. The goal of this issue hence is to contribute to an understanding of the role media played as potential accomplices or carriers of populist agitation (e.g. in autocratic regimes and in absence of free media or out of commercial crookedness) or as amplifiers of extreme political positions or groups and populist sentiment (e.g. sensationalist and simplistic reporting or excessive coverage for populist tropes). Media and mediated communication can however also act as countering forces and adversaries of radical politics and aim to tame blatant populism or maintain forums for civilized debate (i.e., governance or self-regulation measures that may evolve through time).