Reflecting on democratic and responsible citizenship. Where do the media step in?

• Main Author: Oana BĂLUŢĂ
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Etudes Scientifiques Spécialisées Appliquées aux Communications Humaines, Economiques, Sociales et Symboliques 2013-12-01
• Series: Essachess
• Subjects: citizenship; participation; responsible; mass media
• Online Access: http://www.essachess.com/index.php/jcs/article/view/225/236

Citizenship is one notion that generated debates and, on occasion, contradictory positions within academic community, opening the doors not only for political scientists, but for practitioners, activists, politicians as well to step in. The paper aims to explore and highlight how sociologists, political scientists and mass media practitioners envisage responsible and democratic citizenship in Romania. Reviews of literature developments on citizenship in connection with democracy and participation, and perspectives of local journalists, sociologists and political scientists on the intersection of media and responsible citizenship allowed me to highlight key inner marks of responsible and democratic citizenship. The final part of the paper proposes a process of (re)thinking citizenship, emphasizing few propositions with a decisive role when drafting responsible and democratic citizenship: citizenship cannot be separated from participation, active participation; citizenship is correlated with political interests; 3. Active citizenship is democratic and responsible citizenship; citizenship has both a private and a public dimension.