How central are the media to the functioning of democracy? Is democracy primarily about citizens using their vote? Does the expression of their voice necessarily empower citizens? Media and Citizenship challenges some assumptions about the relationship between the media and democracy in highly unequal societies like South Africa.

PrefaceIntroductionPart 1: The media–citizenship nexus1 Citizens and journalists: The possibilities of co-creating the democracy we want2 Listening: A normative approach to transform media and democracy3 Democracy and political participation: The ambivalence of the WebPart 2: The media–democracy problematic4 Speaking power’s truth: South African media in the service of the suburbs5 ‘Back to the people’ journalism: Journalists as public storytellers6 A better life for all? Consumption and citizenship in post-apartheid media culture7 ‘Don’t raise your voice. Improve your argument’: Reason, emotion and affect in the post-apartheid public sphere8 The tale of two publics: Media, political representation and citizenship in Hout Bay, Cape Town9 ‘Non-poor only’: Culture jamming and the limits of free speech in South AfricaPart 3: Acts of citizenship10 Could a ‘Noongarpedia’ form the basis for an emerging form of citizenship in the age of new media?11 The media, Equal Education and school learners: ‘Political listening’ in the South African education crisis12 Innocence: A free pass into the moral commonweal13 We are not the ‘born frees’: The real political and civic lives of eight young South AfricansContributorsIndexMedia