Habermas and the Public Sphere

The emergence of an independent, market-based press, created a new public engaged in critical political discussion.

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. 

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

‘Habermas argues that the development of early modern capitalism brought into being an autonomous arena of public debate.’

‘He argues, the public sphere came to be dominated by an expanded state and organised economic interests’.

‘Created a new public engaged in critical political thinking’.

Habermas and the public sphere

Habermas defines the public sphere as a “society engaged in critical public debate”. Conditions of the public sphere are according to Habermas: The formation of public opinion. All citizens have access.

For Habermas, the private sphere is a primarily about autonomy: “a sphere of bourgeois society which would stand apart from the state as a genuine area of private autonomy” (51). This is the area of family, exchange, and even work that revolves around individuals, not institutions.

Habermas and the Public Sphere

The emergence of an independent, market-based press, created a new public engaged in critical political discussion.

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. 

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

‘Habermas argues that the development of early modern capitalism brought into being an autonomous arena of public debate.’

‘He argues, the public sphere came to be dominated by an expanded state and organised economic interests’.

‘Created a new public engaged in critical political thinking’.

Habermas and the Transformation of the Public Sphere

‘Habermas argues that the development of early modern capitalism brought into being an autonomous arena of public debate.’

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 ( Realm of communication and is the reality of the world vs private realm.)

The emergence of an independent, market-based press, created a new public engaged in critical political discussion.

‘he argues, the public sphere came to be dominated by an expanded state and organised economic interests’

‘created a new public engaged in critical political thinking’

Curran and Seaton

‘View the market as an analogue of the electoral process’

‘The press is the people’s watchdog, scrutinizing the actions of the government and holding the country’s rulers to account’

‘Broadcasting institutions ultimately depend on the state for their legitimation’

‘watchdog role is said to override in importance all other functions of the media’

HABERMAS AND THE TRANSFORMATION OF THE PUBLIC SPHERE

He believes that when people talk and discuss the world, political problems and standings that is when we achieve a strong democracy and beliefs within society.

Habermas states that the development of early modern capitalism brought into being an autonomous arena of public debate.

above all, the emergence of an independent, market based press created a new public engaged in critical political discussion.

public sphere- 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.

private sphere– The private sphere is the complement or opposite to the public sphere. The private sphere is a certain sector of societal life in which an individual enjoys a degree of authority, unhampered by interventions from governmental or other institutions.

Habermas believes that democracy depends on a public which is informed, aware, and which debates the issues of the day.

He wrote his theory in 1962

The Public Sphere:

The public sphere is the arena where citizens come together, exchange opinions regarding public affairs, discuss, deliberate, and eventually form public opinion.

Example – town hall

Public sphere in media:

The public sphere is the realm of communication and debate that came to life with the emergence of mass communication in the form of a relatively small-scale and independent press in the 18th and 19th century.

‘Habermas argues that the development of early modern capitalism brought into being an autonomous arena of public debate.’

‘created a new public engaged in critical political thinking’

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. A “Public” is “of or concerning the people as a whole.” Public Sphere is a place common to all, where ideas and information can be exchanged. Such a discussion is called public debate and is defined as the expression of views on matters that are of concern to the public—often, but not always, with opposing or diverging views being expressed by participants in the discussion.

The idea of mass media production such as newspapers shows the death and reduction of the public sphere as less and less opinions of the people are being shared and received less.

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

Curran and Seaton

“the free market makes the press a representative institution”

ESSAY

 Ideology can be defined as a collection of values and beliefs. To what extent do media products target audiences by constructing an ideological view of the world?
You should refer to your newspaper Close Study Products, The i and The Daily Mail.

In this essay, I am going to explore the ideological view that the audiences of the media have. Also, the impact and influence that the media has, specifically newspapers. I am going to use two newspapers to do so: The Daily Mail and The i – both dated on Monday 6th June and both owned by Daily Mail and General Trust plc (DMGT) which is a British multinational media company, the owner of the Daily Mail and several other titles such as The i, it is owned by The 4th Viscount Rothermere.

Printing press first began in 1440 with the main purpose of sharing knowledge wider and quicker. Nowadays, printing is done much quicker therefore their main purpose is to entertain, inform and educate. There are many tabloids out there all serving the same purpose but have to differentiate who they’re targeting and what they’re spreading.

The i Newspaper launched to pose a challenge to existing ‘quality’ newspapers with low cover price and tabloid format. The i needed a way to stand out from other newspapers as newspapers realistically are dying. They don’t make enough money from the newspaper itself. From Noam Chomsky’s 5 Media Filters, the second filter “Role of advertising” – Media costs more than consumers will ever pay. Newspaper fees do not ever cover the cost of production. Advertising is an important way for newspapers to make money. For example, when you go onto The i’s online website as you start searching, advertisements begin to pop up on the screen. Newspapers thrive off of advertising since it is their main way to make money, this makes the newspaper industry a risky business as said so by David Hesmondhalgh on Cultural Industries.

The Daily Mail newspaper is a right wing supporting newspaper, who in the issue dated Monday 6th June 2022 was heavily supportive of the conservative party and the Monarch. On the majority of pages up to page 17 are all dedicated to the Queen and her Royal Platinum Jubilee at the weekend just gone before the issue was published. On Page 18, a comment was left in favour of Queen Elizabeth herself.  ‘For 70 years. the Queen has put love of country and public service above all else. And, as the last four days of Platinum Jubilee celebrations have shown, the people love her for it. For an object lesson in the virtue of loyalty, the Tory rebels need look no further. The Daily Mail including this in their column suggests they have no negative opinions towards the Queen or the conservative therefore enforcing positive opinions onto the audience who is targeted as

notes

Curran and Seaton – Power and Media industries theory

“The free market makes the press a representative institution…newspapers and magazines are to respond to the concerns of their readers if they are to stay in business.”

However, since the press has been industrialised, the ‘assumption that ‘anyone is free to start a paper’ is an ‘illusion’.

Power of media institutions and how monopolies can project ideas and messages to large amounts of people.

the press can be used as a propaganda tool to influence the audience. Because there are far fewer newspaper owners than their are readers, an audience only receives a small amount of opinions. Whilst many hoped the internet would make this fairer, due to lower costs, Curran and Seaton believe this hasn’t happened in practice as the big news organisations control the majority of online news.

Daily Mail and General Trust plc (DMGT) –

magnificent celebrations,” “joyous jubilee.

habermas and the transformation of the public sphere

Habermas believes that democracy depends on a public which is informed, aware, and which debates the issues of the day.

He believes that when people talk and discuss the world, political problems and standings that is when we achieve a strong democracy and beliefs within society.

Habermas states that the development of early modern capitalism brought into being an autonomous arena of public debate.

above all, the emergence of an independent, market based press created a new public engaged in critical political discussion.

public sphere- 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.

private sphere– The private sphere is the complement or opposite to the public sphere. The private sphere is a certain sector of societal life in which an individual enjoys a degree of authority, unhampered by interventions from governmental or other institutions.

NEWSPAPER EXAM PREP

Question:
Ideology can be defined as a collection of values and beliefs. To what extent do media products target audiences by constructing an ideological view of the world?
You should refer to your newspaper Close Study Products, The i and The Daily Mail.


References to key theories:

1. Karl Marx in the second half of the 19th century that unifies social, political, and economic theory.
2. Antonio Gramsci is best known for his theory of cultural hegemony, which describes how the state and ruling capitalist class – the bourgeoisie – use cultural institutions to maintain power in capitalist societies.
3. Denis McQuail says “The media do serve the ‘public interest’ or ‘general welfare’ whether its by design or chance”
4. James Curran says “The professional media sector occupies a space wholly independent on the state and the market”
5. James Curran says “Media enables viewers to plug into different views and different perspectives”

Newspaper content:

Daily mail (right-wing ideology):
Page 18: Boris Johnson is by a country mile the best person to lead the Tory Government.
Page 2: “Tory rebels ‘are plotting course to catastrophe’.

The I (Left-wing ideology):
Page 20: “Thank you for saying what needed to be said about the isralian state”
Page 20: “How long before Priti Patek makes it illegal to boo at someone we find offensive?”
Nick clegg, a deputy prime minister (libertarian) sided and said he is a reader of ‘The I’
Didn’t side with a political party in the 2017 and 2019 election.

Habermas and the public sphere:
Public sphere: Is the mass spread of communication that came around when letters and newpapers were produced.

-“Newspapers, letter and notes forged a consensus which shaped the direction of the state/country.”
-“The media ceased to be a emergence of empowerment and rationality, and became a further means to sideline the public. Instead of including a direction for rational-critical debate, the media manipulated and changed mass opinions”
-“The emergence of a independent, market-based press created a new critical political discussion”

Noam Chomsky:

– Sometimes called “the father of modern linguistics”
– Critical of the media, claiming they are hand to hand with the government, being swayed and told to write and make news to sway the opinion of the public.
– “Manufacturing consent”
– “The dominant mass-media outlets are large profit-based operations, and therefore they must cater to the financial interests of the owners such as corporations and controlling investors”

The 5 filters of mass media:

1. Structures of ownershipMedia conglomerates are mostly owned by bigger companies with the same Endgame: Profit. Pushing for anything that gives profit.
2.The role of advertisingAdvertising companies get paid by media conglomerates to sell a product, which they make money off of, as well as this the advertising company pays the media conglomerates to get ads within the newspaper or product the media conglomerates are selling.
3.Links with ‘The Establishment’Links to higher power, which allows you to get a higher controlling job within the media.
4.Diversionary tactics – ‘flack’A diversionary activity is one intended to attract people’s attention away from something which you do not want them to think about, know about, or deal with. Discrediting stories, sources and ideas so that it supports and fits what the government want.
5.Uniting against a ‘common enemy’ – something the media can write about that everyone agrees on or hates to make money and make topics to write on, to therefore sell more.

AGENDA SETTING: Agenda-setting describes the “ability to influence the importance placed on the topics of the public agenda”

FRAMING: the act of providing with a frame. a frame or a system of frames; framework

MYTH MAKING: Making lies to criticise and discredit other sources and stories, making you question their credibility.

CONDITIONS OF CONSUMPTION: income, wealth, interest rates, age, education, and family size.

Essay beginning:

Media products utilise a constructional view of the world and current times to target certain audiences and make sales. As Denis Mcqauil states “The media do serve the ‘public interest’ or ‘general welfare’ whether its by design or chance”” saying that the newspapers we read today are designed to sway and support our own decisions and that it doesn’t matter how it came about, that is the truth. As well as this, in the second half of the 19th century Karl Marx argued that the ideas of the governing power were causing to much in society and that people should take a step back and look at what they’re doing before they mindlessly follow it.

Habermas and the public sphere

‘Habermas argues that the development of early modern capitalism brought into being an autonomous arena of public debate.’

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. 

the emergence of an independent, market-based press, created a new public engaged in critical political discussion.

bourgcois public sphere – a public space between the private domain and the state in which public opinion was formed and popular supervision of government was established.

the media ceased to be an agency of empowerment and rationality.. The media manipulated mass opinion instead of giving rational-critical debates.

The first newspaper was published in the 17th century with The purpose to inform the public .