Thomas Häussler is a post-doctoral researcher and lecturer at the Institute of Communication and Media Studies, University of Bern. His research interests include political communication; online mobilisation and campaigning of civil society actors; social (online) network analysis; (Swiss) media history; and social and political philosophy – in particular, theoretical models of and empirical research on deliberative democracy. He teaches courses at bachelor’s and master’s levels on different aspects of political communication.

• Series Editors Foreword 1. Introduction 2. Democracy, Discourse and the Public Sphere: The Deliberative Approach 3. Methods and Measures of Deliberation 4. The Media and the Deliberative Quality of Public Spheres 5. Democratic Conflict and Deliberative Coalitions 6. Conclusion Appendix: Codebook

"In the deliberative model of democracy, a free press is of crucial importance for linking the public sphere and political decision making. Häussler shows in a sophisticated way the potential and the pitfalls for the media to fulfil this role. The philosophical background of the deliberative model is linked in a successful way with complex empirical analyses. The book is highly relevant for journalism, communication, and political science." - Jürg Steiner, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill