Democracy at Risk: The Reflection of Political Alienation in Attitudes Toward the Media

Two types of political alienation are identified in data from an Israeli study of decoding the news. The “cynics,” estranged from the polity, do not believe in the credibility of the news but neither do they favor censorship. the “deniers,” estranged from democratic norms, believe in the credibility of the news but nevertheless advocate censorship. It is suggested that the former is a worry to established democracies and the latter, to less established ones. This essay locates these views within particular subgroups of Israeli society and discusses their historical and sociological origins. Parent‐child discussions of the news illustrate these views in action and their associations with different definitions of the functions and effects of television within the context.