Deliberating with Diablo: How to Confront the Crisis of Political Communication and Help Save Democracy

The crisis of democracy is largely a crisis of public communication. Dishonest and manipulative communication from unscrupulous elites—massively amplified by social media—distorts public spheres and helps drive democratic backsliding. Can citizens see through these manipulations and set a deliberative constraint—including minimal truthfulness and civility norms—on bad elite behavior? No single intervention will of itself heal the public sphere. Rather a robust discursive infrastructure consisting of diverse interpersonal networks, smart deliberative interventions, and democratic activism is vital, alongside the construction of discursive bridges to those attracted by populism, authoritarianism, and extremism.