This article opens a critical debate on the analyses of Brants and other challengers of what could be termed a critical orthodoxy in political communication. It highlights the importance of the questions raised by Brants, against the reflexes of intellectual aristocratism or the attribution of un-established effects to the media. But, more importantly, it argues against an implicit theory of democracy which, claiming to refuse normative abstractions and positions, seems to consider the citizen-consumer distinction as outmoded. The author argues for the development of a multidimensional evaluation of the content and effects of talk-shows, that questions the image they project of democratic debate, often with an undermining view of the capacities of ordinary citizens.