Lisa Bu's J676 Blog

Sunday, October 29, 2006

Response to part 7 of the Reader book

Jurgen Habermas introduced the concept of "public sphere" in his article which means a realm of social life that all citizens are guaranteed of access, and public opinion can form out of people's rational discussions. The physical place of public sphere could be coffeehouses or newspapers and other mass media. But what Habermas described as public sphere is an ideal which the real-world version of it has difficult to match. He acknowledged that as well: "the liberal model of the public sphere ... cannot be applied to the actual conditions of an industrially advanced mass democracy organizaed in the form of the social welfare state."(p354)

Concerned about the erosion of cultural sector by commercial interest, Nicholas Garnham applied the idea of "public sphere" to broadcasting and suggested that the public service model is an embodiment of it (p362). "The imcompatibility between the commercial and political functions of the media is not just a question of ownership and control, ... it is even more a question of the value system and set of social relations." (p363)

In his article, John Keane saw public sphere not as a single sphere but a "complex mosaic of differently sized, overlapping, and interconnected public spheres." (p366) For example, he distinguish public spheres at micro-public (sub-nation-state), meso public (nation-state), and macro public (global) levels. I think this may help analysis and understanding of the public sphere because different level may have different characteristics.

In his article, Zizi Papacharissi examined the impact of the Internet on the public sphere by studying three aspects of the Internet: ability to transfer information, potential to bring diverse people together, and its future in a capitalist era. His conclusion is that the Internet "have managed to create new public space [in the form of virtual sphere] for political discussion ... but does not ensure the rejuvenation of a culturally drained public sphere." (p389) I agree with his view.

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