Monitoring mediascapes: Key concepts an...

In an age of information-saturated societies, deliberative communication is an essential precondition for democratic processes and, ultimately, safeguarding social cohesion. However, a few current and emerging trends are endangering the evolvement of deliberative communication. These include economic and political challenges (such as the recent upsurge of ultra-right movements in various European democracies) as well as technological trends that facilitate the diffusion of misinformation and hate speech online. Under such circumstances, it becomes increasingly important to monitor effectively processes of deliberative communication and provide early warning about dangerous developments. One principal aim of the Mediadelcom project is to contribute to the realisation of these tasks, thus not only pointing the way forward for socially relevant research initiatives in the field of media and communication, but also to advance the sound development of democratic societies in general.