New digital threats to media pluralism in the information age

Abstract

The proliferation of news and information has reached unprecedented levels. Notwithstanding this apparent richness, increasing doubts about the quality and diversity of online news have grown for many years. The article arguments that the threats to quality information and media pluralism essentially come from two sources: the increasing concentration of economic resources into just a few gigantic online platforms/media and the spreading of the disinformation that is favored by the available technological instruments. After having analyzed these threats also in terms of their consequences for the public and democratic debate, the article focuses on the available responses, exploring the necessity of explicit and multidimensional public policies to preserve quality news and media pluralism as public goods that are indispensable to democracy.