Information plays a crucial role in creating the grounds for and later maintaining the very possibility for democracy. Many credit the information gained through social media for the pro-democracy movements in the Arab Spring. In more mature democracies, information about candidates allows us to make voting choices; information about representatives allows us to monitor their behavior. Portrayed in this manner, media is clearly an essential source of information. However, media comes in all varieties and in very different qualities. This course explores the role of information in democracy, in general, how the quality of the media can affect this information, and what types of rules, systems, etc can affect media quality.