1. THE INTERNET
& PUBLIC SPHERE
JUS 394 CyberPolitics
Merlyna Lim, Arizona State University
February 2009

2. [public sphere]
a democratic society depends on an informed
populace to make decisions
a social space where information, ideas and
debate can circulate in a society
a space where political opinion can be formed

3. [ jurgen
habermas]
a german social theorist.
frankfurt school.
‘structural transformation of
the public sphere’ (1962):
the growth and decline of the
bourgeois public sphere
the middle class (small industrialists,
skilled workers)

4. Frankfurt School: In the early part of this century, a loose
aggregation of intellectuals known as the quot;Frankfurt Schoolquot;
produced a body of work on the decay of the modern world.
Well-known theorists included Theodore Adorno, Max Horkheimer,
Herbert Marcuse, Walter Benjamin, Erich Fromm. Their studies
go under the general name “Critical Theory.”
Horkheimer and Adorno in the “Dialectic of Enlightenment”
“In the most general sense of progressive thought, the Enlightenment
has always aimed at liberating men from fear
and establishing their sovereignty. Yet the fully enlightened earth
radiates disaster triumphant....What men want to learn from nature is
how to use it in order wholly to dominate it and
other men....Ruthlessly, in despite of itself, the Enlightenment
has extinguished any trace of its own self-consciousness.”

5. [the public sphere]
For Habermas, a public sphere is
a collection of private individuals
who get together to discuss
matters of common concern

6. [ the public sphere]
It came about in the 18th century with the rise
of the middle class and the creation of
associations, clubs, coffee houses, salons...
People used to discuss
poetry, philosophy,
aesthetics, and social
issues. Gradually they
began to discuss
matters of governance.

7. [the public sphere]
the public sphere was set-up to oppose absolutist
monarchical regimes
for Habermas, this played an important role in
mediating relations between society and state
collective discussion of this sort if not
unprecedented in history -- Ancient Greek Agora
the public sphere is different in that it was assumed
to create the conditions for building consensus and
universality

8. [agora]
a market place in ancient democratic Athens
where people gathered to discuss common
matters and debate issues

9. [agora]
a market place in ancient democratic Athens
where people gathered to discuss common
matters and debate issues

10. [agora]
a market place in ancient democratic Athens
where people gathered to discuss common
matters and debate issues

11. [agora]
a market place in ancient democratic Athens
where people gathered to discuss common
matters and debate issues

12. [public sphere]
individuals were expected to put aside their
private interests and deliberate about truth and
the collective good
if people’s ideas were subjected to scrutiny
through the principle of publicity then a
universal public opinion would emerge
such a universal opinion would represent the
truth and would therefore have to be acted
upon by the state.

13. [public sphere]
&
[gutenberg]
- the Press in the latter
half of the 18th century
- 15th to the 18th
century: Gutenberg’s
invention was used to
print Bibles and other
information

14. [public sphere] &
[press]
however, the Press later became the tool for swaying
public opinion
newspapers represented particular ideological positions
and these positions became amplified in debates in the
public sphere
for Habermas, it’s crucial for society to enshrine the
principle of free communication -- this is a prerequisite
to any form of justice
mass media thus have become the chief institutions of
the public sphere

15. [4 dimensions of p.s]
Media Institutions
Media representation
Social structure
Integration

16. [media institutions]
Concerned with organization,
financing, legal frameworks of
media ownership, control,
licensing, access,
communicative discourse
Public service broadcasting
(BBC, CBC, PBS)

17. [media
representation]
What do the media portray? how are topics
presented? what is the character of the
debate and discussion?
Concern with journalism - who are the
gatekeepers?, organizational structure of the
newsmaker.

18. [social structure]
Structural dimension of the
public sphere: scale and
boundaries
What type of model? -
centralized or pluralistic?
Can all citizens be
accommodated within the same
public sphere?

19. [integration]
Goes beyond media representation and
includes socio-cultural interaction. sense
making, collective practices.
Concerned with 1) discursive nature of talk
between citizens; 2) spatial sites and settings of
social interactions (virtual and non-virtual); 3)
communal nature of social bonds between
citizens.

20. Why is the public sphere important
in the current intellectual
discourse?
Tries to develop an alternative to the
process of commodification and market-
driven mechanisms
Ideally, in public sphere no restrictions
on the range of viewpoints
Equitable representation irregardless of
income

21. [threats to public sphere]
Government control and censorship: through
ownership, regulation and partial funding of public
broadcasting; or censorship for 'national security'
concerns
Bias, self-censorship through private system of
control: ownership control, narrow class interests,
corporate interests. Entertainment 'news' over
controversy, lack of political debate, 'soft news',
etc.
Media globalization...

22. Issues re public space and
media
How can citizens participate?
Access - to means of production
and consumption
Free speech and censorship
Community standards - whose
community?, and whose
standards?

23. [the Internet]
is the Internet the new hope for a
renewal of public sphere?