Habermas is a theorist who talks about the public sphere which is where everyone is involved and people can interact with each other freely. Democracy is important in the public sphere as it allows for people to have an opinion, and depends on an audience that is informed. Curran focuses on Habermas and the concept of the public sphere; this could be because Curran is interested in how the public keep their interest, and individuals can come together to discuss freely and identify societal problems. Media is said to be ‘free’ however it may not be free in reality if it’s owned by one person and essentially taking away that free will and power the public could have. The media and public sphere can be seen as a ‘watch dog’ which is a form of investigative journalism where journalists/authors/publishers of a news publication fact-check and interview political and public figures; this will increase accountability. This form of journalism often takes on a form of ‘beat reporting’ about specific issues as these are often considered valid and important to cover.

In some newspapers such as the i the editors produce what is considered to be of interest within the public which means they are taking into account what the public want and the public will be able to see what they want reflected in the newspaper.This is important with newspapers as if the public are interested in something, they will be more likely to engage with and read the articles. Most newspapers are now produced online which is good as this will make articles more accessible to everyone and people can have more of a say in what goes into the newspapers as everything will be online. This means people will be able to contribute to the stories that people read meaning there will be positive reinforcement, which means there will be an overall better customer satisfaction.

Habermas’ theory on the public sphere is important as it implies that the public’s opinions are needed in order for something to be successful and people can grow to enjoy the media more if there are topics that convey what the public want to actually see. There is a dominant ideology here as it’s implied that there can’t be good media without having the opinions of the public, as people won’t want to read or watch what is produced if it is of no interest to them.