Deliberative and Ethical Communication Democracy: Another Twist to the Lippmann-Dewey Debate

Abstract

The strength and vitality of the debate on deliberative democracy has prompted to look for its possible backgrounds. One of them was the known as the "˜Lippmann-Dewey debate"™, which developed in the twenties of the past century. The author reviews that debate on the assumption that the same has not only historical but also structural validity and their keys remain effective today. Dewey carried out a transformation of key concepts of democratic theory, but did not address the challenges of its practical implementation. In relation with social communication, core and fundamental framework of this debate, this deficiency forces to return to Lippmann and to rescue his program of reform of journalism, content in his work of the beginning of the decade. A program that today would constitute the core of the ethics of communication and would be crucial for the effective implementation of deliberative democracy.