It is funny the way some phrases stick in your mind and become part of a personal lexicon. One of my favourites was a line by the German communications scholar Michael Kunczik, who described the role of the media as ‘the feedback mechanism in democratic system management’.

It is not a very elegant phrase, but it appealed to me. The notion of reducing the messiness of the interaction between the media and democracy, between journalists, media owners, politicians and citizens to something akin to a flow chart from an expensive consultancy report struck me as almost amusingly German. High-minded, yet mechanical.