Habermus and the Public Sphere

Habermus argues that the development of early modern capitalism brought into being an autonomous arena of public debate. Habermus traces the evolution of the “bourgeois public sphere” which is a public space between the private domain and the state in which public opinion was formed and “popular” supervision of government was established. He argues, the public sphere came to be dominated by the expanded state and organized economic interests. Although Habermas was careful to argue that participation in the public sphere, in its classical phrase, was restricted to the propertied class, he has come under attack for idealizing, this period of history. He also has been criticized for his characterization of the media and the public sphere in the subsequent period

Media Watchdog

Classical liberal thought argues that the primary democratic role of the media is to act as a public watchdog overseeing the state. This is usually defined as revealing abuses in the exercise of state authority. The watchdog role is said to override in importance all other functions of the media, and to dictate the form in which the media should be organised

Quote

“Once the media becomes subject to public regulation, it will lose its bite as a watchdog and may even be transformed into a snarling Rottweiler in the service of the state”