Habermas argued that participation in the public sphere is in it’s classical phase and was restricted to the propertied class.

As James Curran said ‘ PUBLIC SPHERE AS A NEUTRAL ZONE’

Curran says that ‘ THE PRIMARY DEMOCRATIC ROLE OF THE MEDIA IS TO ACT AS A PUBLIC WATCHDOG OVERSEEING THE STATE.’

@jmcgillivray10 🚗🎉♥

• Habermas argues that the development of early modern capitalism brought into being an autonomous arena of public debate.
• the media ceased to be an agency of empowerment and rationality
• the media manipulated mass opinion

@aromeril10 💕🥂

media watchdog

• classical liberal thought argues that the primary democratic role of the media is to act as a public watchdog overseeing the state

How can the Media act in the ‘Public Sphere’ in the ‘Public Interest’?

“a public space between the private domain and the state in which public opinion was formed and ‘popular’ supervision of government was established”

The structural transformation of the public sphere

Media act in the ‘Public Sphere’ in the ‘Public Interest’

“a public space between the private domain and the state in which public opinion was formed and ‘popular’ supervision of government was established” (p. 82: 1996)

– media as watchdog

• Structures of ownership
• The role of advertising
• Links with ‘The Establishment’
• Diversionary tactics – ‘flack’
• Uniting against a ‘common enemy’

habermas created The Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere: An Inquiry into a Category of Bourgeois Society in 1989

How can the Media act in the ‘Public Sphere’ in the ‘Public Interest’?

“a public space between the private domain and the state in which public opionion was formed and ‘popular’ supervision of government was established” (p. 82: 1996)

– the media as watchdog

“instead of providing a conduit for rational-critical debate, the media manipulated mass opinion” – james curry

state media v free market media