Dark side of people power: Populism and the news media

As populist intolerance grows, journalists are unsure of how to reconcile the dark side of people power with their professional instinct to reflect their audiences’ viewpoints. Asia’s news media landscape includes conscientious opponents of this trend, as well as active agents and passive enablers of intolerant populism. But there is little consensus about how to deal with newsmakers who promote intolerance. The media itself is also a victim of populism, where the defender of the demos suddenly finds itself cast as the enemy of the people, potentially resulting in compromises in the quality of reporting.