Habermas defined the public sphere as a virtual or imaginary community which does not necessarily exist in any identifiable space. In its ideal form, the public sphere is “made up of private people gathered together as a public and articulating the needs of society with the state”

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’