Media and the public sphere

Question 1

Jürgen Habermam and the public sphere

Answer 1

• 1929: broke away from Marxism (liberal)
• describes the emergence of the bourgeois public sphere
• new culture of public discussion emerges in coffeehouses (‘bourgeois’ class of men) - forming public opinion

Question 2

Liberal public sphere

Answer 2

Based on the ideals of universal access, free speech, the authority of a good argument instead of class
- public opinion is baseline
- press freedom (4th estate)

Question 3

Four main critiques again Habermam’s public sphere

Answer 3

Decline in the late 19th - 20th century
- too pessimistic
- Does not properly reflect how people make decisions: excludes personal and emotional factors (rather than rational)
- Idealises the ‘bourgeois sphere’ neglects certain groups of race, class and gender (E.g women, POC, working-class); not actually a democratic notion
- neglects power relations; dominant groups and mass media can shape public opinion; not a neutral platform

Question 4

Media/press and the public sphere

Answer 4

Media and the press central: essential for well-informed citizens to make informed decisions

Question 5

Habermam’s revised public sphere (after critique)

Answer 5

• Public sphere as normative concept: what should be the case vs what is the case (goal)
• PS as network for communication
• multiple spheres: communication between them is possible
• PS is not rational argument: emotional & personal discourse influencing public opinion as well
• commercialisation of public discourse remains

Question 6

Habermams ‘Pseudo-sphere’

Answer 6

• The media is commercialised: entertainment and consumerism focused
• Profit above well-informed citizens; depoliticising the public sphere (less engaged in political action / less informed)
• Public sphere is not a ‘public’ thing anymore; people are only consuming instead of discussing

Question 7

Public service broadcasting
- Curran

Answer 7

• Difference between commercial media and public service media; intentions are to publicly inform and support the ideals of the public sphere
• Goal to improve public debate

Question 8

Alternative radical-democratic view of the public sphere
- Fraser

Answer 8

• conflict is inevitable, democracy is not simply about reaching reasoned agreement
• pubic sphere is space for people to fight to get their voices heard
• multiple spheres: public and counter (traditional; white upper-class men/counter; excluded groups) Counter public spheres (marginalized groups come together)

Question 9

Sluice-gate model

Answer 9

• not one single public sphere, multiple spheres (Fraser)
• Sluice (sluss Trollhättan) represents all of the spheres emptying into the same discussion

Question 10

The internet and the public sphere
(pros)

Answer 10

• ability to democratise
• forms networks
• “network allows citizens to change their relationship to public sphere” - Benkler

Question 11

The internet and the public sphere
(cons)

Answer 11

• fragmentation / polarization
• quality of information
• platform power and targeted manipulation
• must fund quality information and companies have responsibility