The lecture will explore the link between theories of the public sphere and democratic theory more generally. Democratic theory focuses on accountability and responsiveness in the decision-making process; theories of the public sphere focus on the role of public communication in facilitating or hindering this process. More specifically, the lecture will seek to define the democratic public sphere in the form of reviewing four traditions of democratic theory, exploring the answers they suggest for the public sphere and, more particularly, for the normative criteria of mass media discourse in Western liberal democracies. In a more matter-of-fact language, the questions about normative criteria of the public sphere could be formulated as follows: What qualities should the public sphere have to cultivate a vital democratic public life? What characteristics the participants – citizens (actors of public sphere) – should posses, what should be the form and content of their contributions to public discourse and how should the actors communicate with each other? What are the desirable outcomes of the process of communication in the public sphere?