Jürgen Habermas on the basic provision of good journalism

In today's edition the French daily Le Monde reprints an article by German philosopher Jürgen Habermas, published in Süddeutsche Zeitung, in which he stresses how important quality journalism is for political communication. He says that if necesssary it should receive government funding. "Without the flow of information gained through extensive research, and without the stimulation from arguments based on an expertise that doesn't come for free, public communication would lose its discursive vitality. The public would cease to resist populist tendencies, and could no longer fulfil the function it should in the context of a democratic constitutional state... Without impulses from an opinionated press, one that informs reliably and comments diligently, the public would lose its spirit. When gas, electricity or water are at stake, the state must guarantee the energy supply for the population. Shouldn't it do likewise when this other type of 'energy' is at risk - the absence of which will cause disruptions that harm the state?"

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