In a democratic society, citizens have a right to gather peacefully and protest the policies of their government or the actions of other groups with demonstrations, marches, petitions, boycotts, strikes, and other forms of direct citizen action. Direct action is open to everyone in a democracy, but it traditionally has been used by oppressed, disadvantaged, or minority groups who feel excluded from other means of influencing government policies. Such protests have always been part of democratic society. Today, nonviolent protest, often designed to attract the attention of the news media, encompasses a wide array of issues, from environmental pollution to nuclear weapons, foreign policy issues, and racial and ethnic discrimination. One special form of direct action is the right of labor unions to conduct strikes against employers with whom they have disputes that have not been resolved at the bargaining table.
Protests are a testing ground for any democracy.
The ideals of free expression and citizen participation are easy to defend when everyone remains polite and in agreement on basic issues. There is no magic formula for achieving this balance. In the end, it depends on the commitment of the majority to maintaining the institutions of democracy and the precepts of individual rights. To govern is to communicate. The news media in a democracy have a number of overlapping but distinctive functions.