Alternatieve complotmedia, een doorn in het oog van de democratie?

Whether alternative media that propagate conspiracy theories contribute to or hinder democracy is debated heavily within academia and society alike. We however lack a framework to systematically evaluate their democratic potential. Building upon the work of Raeijmaekers and Maeseele (2015), we present precisely that: a framework that allows researchers to systematically evaluate media practices against diverging views on democracy. For each of the three most prominent democratic theories (i.e., liberal, deliberative, and agonistic) we present a set of criteria open to empirical evaluation. Focusing on concepts at the core of debates of media’s contribution to democracy: actor diversity, discursive diversity, and epistemological diversity. The resulting framework allows researchers to empirically evaluate the ways and extent in which media practices are (un)democratic, and according to which standards.