3. The public sphere is an open (physical or virtual) space,
between the realm of government and the domestic and
commercial spheres of society.
Citizens participate in free discussion and deliberation on
matters of significance to society and its future.
5. An imagined community is constituted by a sense of shared
identity and membership in a group, as well as of “others”
outside the group.
It’s an imagined communion because the members will never
meet most of the other members of the group.
As such, a nation is an imagined community.
6. 3. Why might the «old» media have a centripetal effect
and “new media” a centrifugal or fragmenting effect?
7. The “old” represents the days of media scarcity, leaving little
choice for audiences. People read, heard or viewed basically the
same media texts, for instance watching the same TV-programs at
the same time.
Hence; “old” media had a centripetal effect in providing a
common frame of reference, discussion and reflection. Which is
important for the establishment of a public sphere.
“New” media provide an abundance of choice for audiences, as
opposed to the scarcity of the “old” media technology. The
centrifugal effect appears as users choose according to their
diverse and immediate personal interests.
8. 4. What are the main ingredients of “populism” and the
“populist” communication style?
9. Populist actors use words, signs, and images to present
themselves as as the ultimate outsider / antipolitical superhero
defending an idealized “us” – the people – against a demonized
them/other consisting of established elites.
The discourse in the populist communication style is
characterized by a war-like ethos and plain language that provide
a sense of closeness between leaders and their politically
disenchanted publics, trigger off controversies and and feed on
“elite” reactions, besides reconstructing national narratives to fit
the populist purpose.
10. 5. Explain what is meant by a shift from “regimes of truth”
to “regimes of posttruth”?
11. “Each society has its regime of truth, its ‘general politics’ of
truth,” according to Foucault.
Hence, “truth” reflects the power to define what it is, as in news
media controlled by elites.
However, in the new media ecology the power to define truth is
fragmented, and therefore there are lots of “competing truths”,
including fact-checkers.
Regimes of “posttruth” appear, as there is no main venue in
which a trusted (by all) authority can definitively debunk false
truths and establish truth.
