Previously those in charge, monarch etc, dictated. This change when public sphere started connecting horizontally rather than vertically

Before everyone was individuals, through the introduction of reading and writing everyone became able to communicate and unite.

When big companies take control, they dominate information.

People began connecting/having conversations via coffee shops (coffee shop cultures).

Social spaces = Family/friends. Community spaces = Work/school. Public spaces = libraries etc.

Then able to print newspapers etc, people started becoming more aware and educated about the world and current affairs. People began to unit and stand up to make changes.

German sociologist

• Habermas – believes that democracy is good and people should know knowledge about the world ( new )
• public space through a private domain where peoples agree on opinions and set things to do together, not supporting the governments actions.

• read and write though communications across the glob

• the whole idea of the public sphere is that it connects people horizontally rather than vertically

• communications started at home through family, the into the public society in libraries and coffee shops. coffee shop culture is known to be really important, as well as travelling as it allows you to connect to people more and allot you to know more knowledge of society.

• helps society change
• mass production – helps companies and co-operations start to take over and start dominating – mass media globalization has reduced the effectiveness of the public sphere = resulted in PLURALITY ( fewer people discussing the news)
• new media technologies is the transformation of the public sphere

strengths

• allows communications

weakness

• poor quality – anonymity
• TMI

concept of public interest endure quotes:

• “the media do serve the public interest or general welfare whether by design or chance”
• “democratic societies there are likely to be grounds on which an argued claim can be made”
• how do we benefit everyone in society? public control, like government or deregulation “extension of the free market, anyone can?

Habermas’ Public Sphere theory

• A theory by Habermas, as we learn to read and write, people are able to socialize with others from across the globe, rather then limiting it to just socializing with their families.
• Habermas had written extensively on the way that information, news and events are processed in the ‘public sphere’
• Habermas believes that democracy depends on a public which is informed, aware and which debates the issues of the day
• Habermas believes that the that mas media has resulted ina reduction in plurality, there are fewer voices discussing the news
• Habermas believes the mass media and globalization has reduced the effectiveness of the public sphere.
• Habermas was the author of the Theory of communication
• A public space between the private domain and the state in which public opinion was formed and popular supervision of the government was established’
• The public sphere is meant to connect people horizontally, rather then vertically. In the past, the kings and noblemen would control the lower class.
• The public sphere explains that people can connect by going into a coffee shop. You have personal places, such as your home to communicate with your family and then social places, such as coffee shops, where you can communicate and socialize with others and see what is going on, therefore connecting beyond our family and personal relationships.
• Socializing with others in public spaces means you can transform your life and also socialize with anyone throughout the whole World.
• The public sphere excludes the poor and uneducated

Mass Media in Public Interest

• There is a fundamental presumption that the media does serve the ‘public interest’ or ‘general welfare’, whether that is by design or chance
• It doesn’t imply that the media are obliged to conform to popular will or carry out the same particular function
• A quite diverse set of expectations, from or on behalf of ‘society’ have been articulated in different fora in most countries.
• The public control of media has often been advocated on the grounds of public interest as deregulation and further extension of the free market

James Curran = created the book ‘Mass Media and democracy’

Technology and Newspaper
Production	Distribution	Consumption
Camera	The Internet	Glasses
Computer	Social Media	Tablet
Word Processor	Shops	Website
Website Builder	Vehicles	App
Adobe Creative Cloud	Website	Paper
Printer	Emails	A Brain (able to read and understand)
Office	Phones
Pen/Pencil	Printing Press
Paper

Noam Chomsky and Edward S. wrote a book in 1988 called “Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media”. The book propose that the mass communication media of the U.S. “are effective and powerful ideological institutions that carry out a system-support propaganda function, by reliance on market forces, internalized assumptions, and self-concensorship, and without overt cocercion”, by means of the propaganda model of communication. The title “Manufacturing Consent” refers to the consent of the governed.

Sociology of News Production by Michael Schudson

• “Normally, news ‘coincides with’ and ‘reinforces’ the ‘definition of the political situation evolved by the political elite'”
• “Noam Chomsky’s Manufacturing Consent. This work offers a ‘propaganda model’ of the mass media, the view that the media ‘serve to mobilize support for the special interests that dominate the state and private activity”

https://hautlieucreative.co.uk/media2020/wp-content/uploads/sites/34/2018/11/The-Sociology-of-News-Production-Michael-Schudson-Chomsky.pdf

Manipulation or Persuasion

• Structures of Ownership – the idea that rich people know other rich people and will help each other out. E.G. An owner of a media conglomerate is good friends with Trump. Trump could say to the owner “if you say good stuff about me, I will give you a tax break or a new building”. This is persuading and manipulating what is shown in the media to support what the rich want.
• The Role of Advertising – media costs more to produce than they get back from sales. Because of this they put advertisements in the media to fund producing the product. This means that us (the audience) are sold to the companies that are advertising.
• Diversionary Tactics – ‘Flack’ – the idea that someone that speaks out against these big conglomerates will get beaten (flack) from the conglomerates. They will be shut down by the large media companies saying that they are lying.

Audience Reception Theory

Agenda Setting – the creation of public awareness and concern of the big issues by the news media. The media attempts to influence viewers, and establish a hierarchy of news importance. Two basic ideas underpin agenda-setting: 1) the press and the media do not reflect reality; they filter and shape it. 2) media concentrates on a few issues and subjects leads the public to perceive those issues as more important than other issues.

Framing – how something is presented to the audience (called “the frame”) influences the choices people make about how to process that information. The most common use of frames is in terms of the frame the news or media place on the information they convey. A form of second level agenda-setting – they not only tell the audience what to think about (agenda-setting theory), but also how to think about that issue (framing theory). Factors that influence framing: politics, gender, age, religion, culture/society (trends), economic issues and the influence of sponsors and money.

Media Myth Making – The influence of agenda setting and framing can create myths- common beliefs- in the media about how the world should be, the things we value and how we must act to become ‘correct’.

Conditions of Consumption – so we have media that has been framed and presented to us in order to meet an agenda or support a myth.

Other things that can affect our interpretations – daily lives, routines, upbringing, education, friendship groups and relationships.

The public sphere is an area in social life where individuals can come together to freely discuss and identify societal problems, and through that discussion influence political action.

Media has been around for hundreds of years as inventions such as the printing press allowed people to view media for cheap which

Free press is media that allows people to freely express their opinions and views as it is not controlled by the Government.

“To make such assumptions about media accountability is not to claim that there is a single known form which the media should take if they are to fulfill the public interest”

public control vs deregulation

Habermas and the transformation of the public sphere. At first people use to speak in coffee shops to each other but during the late 1700s people started to print and use media which changed how people thought and interacted

The public sphere is an area in social life where individuals can come together to discuss and create connections with each other under the government.

free press is a book or media not controlled, restricted or censored by the government in political or ideological matters

“it does not imply that the media are obliged to confirm to popular will or carry out some particular mission” “public control of media has often been advocated on the grounds of public interest”

public control vs deregulation – concept of public interest.

The public sphere– is an area in social life where individuals can come together to freely discuss and identify societal problems, and through that discussion influence political action.

Jürgen Habermas– is a German philosopher and sociologist in the tradition of critical theory and pragmatism. His work addresses communicative rationality and the public sphere.

Public interest- Anything affecting the rights, health, or finances of the public at large. Public interest is a common concern among citizens in the management and affairs of local, state, and national government

Free Press- a body of book publishers, news media, etc., not controlled or restricted by government censorship in political or ideological matters.

Public control and deregulation

‘media have been hotly debated and public control of media has often been advocated on grounds of public interest’

Habermas it the making of connections with each other rather than under the control of the government

The public space is an area in social life where individuals can come together to freely discuss and identify societal problems, possibly leading to political influence in the government

Horizontal – rather than vertical. No longer follows a hierarchy, more freedom.

Free and liberal press- cohan, media shouldn’t be controlled by government. freedom is needed.

Mass media and globalization has effected the public sphere, don’t talk about issues face to face anymore. Internet similar as it transformed the public sphere. Big companies have secured control over media.

The criteria for assessing the media presented below are limited by their origin. The countries from which they derive are politically pluralistic, predominantly capitalist, the media arrangments in force often divergent.

Habermas is a German philosopher who developed the structural transformation of the public sphere theory. The public sphere is an undefined group of people effected by the media. It is a “society engaged in critical public debate”. he believed that the public sphere was dominant and a positive group up until the 1830’s when there was an disruption within the public sphere with the introduction of media.

Curran and Seaton

Their theory is that the media is controlled by a small number of companies primarily driven by the logic of profit and power.

The concept of a ‘public interest’ Endures

Underlying the proposal for a normative framework is a fundamental presumption, that the media do serve the ‘public interest’ or ‘general welfare’ weather by design or chance.

Something is ‘in the public interest if it serves the ends of the whole society rather than those of some sectors of society’

Public control

VS

Deregulation

Ideally, somewhere between these two would serve the public interest most beneficially.

Habermas identifies three such media: speech, money, and power. Speech is the medium by which understanding is achieved in communicative action, while money and power are non-communicative media that coordinate action in realms like state bureaucracies or markets.

Public Sphere

Jurgen Habermas and his concept of the ‘Public Sphere‘,basically arguing that the developments in education and the mass media allowed for a greater access to information particularly with regard to government, authority and the exercise of control.

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

Media shouldn’t be controlled by the government and that freedom is needed

Mass Media in the Public Interest

Mass media is not the same as any other business or service industry, but carry out some essential tasks for the wider benefit of society, especially in cultural and political life.

A simple definition, drawn from the field of public planning is that something “is in the public interest if it serves the ends of the whole society rather than those of the sectors of the society” (Banfield 1995)

There is conflict between public control and deregulation