“For commercial providers, ‘democracy is not a business model’.”
16. October 2025
Tong-Jin Smith, who holds a doctorate in political science, is not only a professor of journalism at the Media University of Applied Sciences in Berlin, but also the managing director (aka “minister of education”) at the Think & Do Tank futur eins. As one of the first signatories of the #FreeWebSearch charter, she answers the question: Why is a public-interest-oriented web search so important for democracy?
“Democracy requires free access to information. However, the digital public sphere is controlled by commercial providers. For them, democracy is not a business model. We therefore need a websearch that sees itself as public infrastructure and is committed to the public good.”
Dr. Tong-Jin Smith
Professor of Journalism at the Media University of Applied Sciences (Berlin)
Dr. Tong-Jin Smith
Professorin für Journalismus an der Media University of Applied Sciences (Berlin)
Information about the #FreeWebSearch Charter
Who decides what billions of people find on the internet – and what they don’t? This question of power is addressed by the #FreeWebSearch Charter, published by a European alliance of civil society, academia, and media organizations under the initiative of the Open Search Foundation. With ten clear principles, the initiative aims to put control over web search back in the hands of society.
