Habermas and the Transformation of the Public Sphere

you will need to include this in your essay, as it provides a framework for why we have newspapers, what is the point and purpose of them – the idea of a democratic society enabled by news, information, ideas and debate.

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

(p. 82: 1996)

The public sphere is a realm of communication and is the reality of the world vs private realm.

  • Habermas argues that the development of early modern capitalism brought into being an autonomous arena of public debate.
  • arena of public debate
  • …the critical reflection fostered by letters and novels, the flowering of discussion in coffee houses and salons and, above all, the emergence of an independent, market-based press.
  • a new public engaged in critical political discussion
  • …was restricted to the propertied class (i.e., the class of the owners)

habermas and public sphere

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’

HABERMAS AND CHOMSKY

Public vs Private Sphere

  • The Public Sphere is the shared issues and problems we face as a shared group (society) and how those problems can be discussed freely together, whereas The Private Sphere is issues that concern the individual in personal life.

The Printing Press

  • The Printing Press was created in Germany around 1440.
  • This invention made way for the spread of news through a different media forms.
  • ‘The Peterloo Masacre’

Habermas

  • “Habermas argues that the development of early modern capitalism brought into being an autonomous arena of public debate.”
  • Habermas says that the public sphere is “a virtual or imaginary community which does not necessarily exist in any identifiable space.” He commented at a time in which the media was becoming ‘rationalised’ and pushed the public to the ‘side-lines’
  • ‘Arena of public debate’ in which a ‘public opinion’ is formed.
  • Before the creation of print media through the printing press, the public weren’t able to read or write, inhibiting their ability to share opinions and information. Habermas says that the media paved the way to allow people to share thoughts, therefore make change in a freer, more libertarian way.
  • “The primary role of the media is to act as a public watchdog, overseeing the state”
  • “Once the media is subject to public regulation” it will lose its ability to comment freely on current affairs.

Noam Chomsky

Noam Chomsky (born 1928) is an American linguist, philosopher, cognitive scientist, historical essayist, social critic, and political activist.

  • Chomsky says that the media works with the monarchy, the state and alongside with the ruling ideology to create a product that ‘manipulates’ and ‘persuades’ the audience to believe the view being presented as the truth.
  • He is critical of the media, saying that it is hand in hand with the government.
  • “(The media) is a mechanism that is deliberately used by the rich and the powerful (the elite)”.
  • “Mass media firms are big corporations. Often, they are part of even bigger conglomerates. Their end game? Profit” – Noam Chomsky: The five filters of the mass media.
  •  The Propaganda Model: “It traces the routes by which money and power are able to filter out the news fit to print, marginalize dissent, and allow the government and dominant private interests to get their messages across to the public”
  • ‘Manufacturing Consent’ – The media encourages consent.
  • The media is not a transparent ‘window’ on the world. Like the public, the media has opinions and values which influence their presentation of the world.

5 Filters: The type of news published in the media

1.Structures of ownership

  • Only a select few companies that own the media, therefore only a select few ideologies/ perspectives are being promoted.
  • Conglomerates
  • Endgame: Profit
  • Critical (quality/accountability/education/discussion/thinking) journalism takes second place.

2.The role of advertising

  • Advertisement fills the pay gap.
  • The media is also selling a product for advertisers: the audiences.

3.Links with ‘The Establishment’

  • Journalism encourages complicity

4.Diversionary tactics – ‘flak’

  • The term “flak” has been used to describe what Chomsky and Herman see as efforts to discredit organizations or individuals who disagree with the politicial ideal.
  • Distorting/ challenging/ undermining stories that don’t satisfy the powerholders through changing the focus.

5.Uniting against a ‘common enemy’

  • A target
  • Communism/ terrorism – Something to fear.

AGENDA SETTING, FRAMING, MYTH MAKING, CONDITIONS OF CONSUMPTION

newspaper exam prep

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.

First paragraph basis: The purpose of papers is to inform us. Discussion

  • One 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
  • Habermas argues that the development of early modern capitalism brought into being an autonomous arena of public debate.
  • arena of public debate
  • …the critical reflection fostered by letters and novels, the flowering of discussion in coffee houses and salons and, above all, the emergence of an independent, market-based press.
  • a new public engaged in critical political discussion
  • …was restricted to the propertied class (i.e., the class of the owners)

Some Quotes from both Newspapers:

Daily mail – right-wing:
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:
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:

Starting para:

All products and services have a purpose, if it is to entertain or educate, they all have a reason to provide a function to people. Newspapers have a primary purpose to inform, but how can there be different newspapers if they all serve the the same function? The difference is, is that each newspaper supports different ideologies and uphold different values and beliefs of the world, there is no way everyone in the world can hold the exact same values and beliefs, which is why multiple different newspapers all around the world serves a reasonable value. Habermas says that there is an arena of public debate as in form of a public sphere, when applying these ideas, newspapers have an important obligation to inform with veracity. The issue with this is that with modern regulations, entire and vastly different views from person to person, in their own private spheres, modern newspapers lose their “bite as a watchdog” as said by Haberman and will bend to the “service of the state”. When looking at Noam Chomsky’s filters of the mass media machine, it is said that mass media companies and firms as parts of even bigger conglomerates, have a sole function for profit. It’s in their interest to push what ever increases that profit. This is relevant because knowing that the Daily Mail owns The i, they try to reach as vast audiences as possible to sell as many newspapers as possible. The more newspapers that become a part of the Daily Mail, DMG Media, General Trust conglomerate, the larger the public sphere becomes and the larger control they have on public views and ideas, controlling their ideologies of the world. The Daily Mail is the United Kingdom’s second biggest-selling daily newspaper after The Sun and to maintain this status they target audiences by constructing an ideological view of the world, this is done by having a priority for entertainment over news on their news website and also their newspapers, but also reporting on news that suit their traditionally right-wing tabloid, conservative party views, proven by the quote on a recent issue that the ‘Comment’ ie the editorial or voice of the paper says ‘Only Starmer gains from this clueless plot’ – ie Labour will gain from Conservative divisions over Boris Johnson, showing their views on Conservative party clearly and steering their audiences into their own philosophies and ideologies of country issues.

Facts about the Daily Mail

  1. Publisher: DMG Media
  2. First issue date: 1896
  3. Owner: DMG Media, Daily Mail and General Trust
  4. Editor: Paul Dacre, Stewart Steven, R. D. Blumenfeld, W. G. Fish, Tom Clarke
  5.  It is the United Kingdom’s second biggest-selling daily newspaper after The Sun.
  6. Morning daily newspaper published in London, long noted for its foreign reporting, it was one of the first British papers to popularize its coverage to appeal to a mass readership.
  7. The Daily Mail’s main target audience is lower-middle-class British women. It was the first newspaper in the UK to write articles targeted at women.
  8. Support of fascism: 1930–1934
  9. Lord Rothermere was a friend of Benito Mussolini and Adolf Hitler, and directed the Mail’s editorial stance towards them in the early 1930s
  10. As a right-wing tabloid, the Mail is traditionally a supporter of the Conservative Party. It has endorsed the party in every UK general election since 1945, with the one exception of the October 1974 UK general election, where it endorsed a Liberal and Conservative coalition.
  11. Priority of entertainment over news

Facts about The i

  1. Owner: Daily Mail and General Trust
  2. Editor: Oliver Duff
  3. Founded: 26 October 2010
  4. Headquarters: Northcliffe House; London, England, UK
  5.  It is aimed at “readers and lapsed readers” of all ages and commuters with limited time
  6.  Published in London by Daily Mail and General Trust
    11
  7. During an interview for the i in December 2017, then Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn declared himself to be a dedicated reader of the i, saying that its compact size and concise articles suited his busy lifestyle as Leader of Her Majesty’s Opposition
Libertarians:

Seek to maximize autonomy and political freedom, and minimize the state’s violation of individual liberties; emphasizing free association, freedom of choice, individualism and voluntary association.

Libertarianism – Libertarians seek freedom away from regulation and the government. Libertarians seek to maximize autonomy and political freedom, and minimize the state’s violation of individual liberties; emphasizing free association, freedom of choice, individualism and voluntary association – Wikipedia

THREE TYPES OF MEDIA OWNERSHIP

  • Capitalist Media
    corporations content that addresses humans in various social roles and results in meaning-making.
  • Public service media
    state-related institutions
    Content that addresses humans in various social roles and results in meaning-making.
  • Civil society media
    Citizen-control

The 5 Filters of Mass Media Machine

The five filters are:

(1) ownership; (2) advertising; (3) official sources; (4) flak; and (5) marginalizing dissent.

The author discusses the applicability of Herman’s and Chomsky’s propaganda model today.

  1. Ownership: Mass media companies and firms as parts of even bigger conglomerates, as a sole function for profit. In their interest to push what ever increases that profit.
  2. Advertising money: Advertisers are paying for audiences. So their role is to be at the use of mass media conglomerates as a tool to increase profits.
  3. The media Elite: Make themselves crucial to the process of advertising. They are used as a tool to help the processes of media consumption. You cannot challenge power.
  4. Flak machine: discrediting, distorting, challenging and undermining stories.
  5. The common enemy: Helps crowd public opinion, points the finger at the common enemy as a tactic to control the masses.

The daily mail and The i

  • The Daily Mail
  • mid-market tabloid newspaper
  • sells 1.2 million copies a day
  •  owned by the Daily Mail and General Trust
  • current chairman is Jonathan Harmsworth
  • horizontally integrated with metro newspaper and the i
  • their website is the most visited news website in the world
  • daily mail offers syndication of its own stories to other newspapers
  • supports conservatives/ right wing
  • published pro-nazi content in the 1930s
  • advertisers hold the greatest power for the daily mail
  • traditionalist lifestyle
  • The I
  • The paper and its website were bought by the Daily Mail and General Trust (DMGT) on 29 November 2019, for £49.6 million
  • originally launched in 2010 as a sister paper to The Independent
  • In the 2017 and 2019 UK general elections, the i chose not to endorse a political party
  •  The paper is classified as a ‘quality‘ in the UK market but is published in the standard compact tabloid-size format.
  • the i has developed a strong national reputation over time. The paper is understood to be highly regarded by many journalists
  • The i was named British National Newspaper of the Year in 2015.
  • intended for younger readers
  • left wing
  • by-line For open minds, there’s no right, or left,
Theme or issueThe Daily Mail textual evidenceThe daily mail institutional evidenceThe I textual evidenceThe I institutional evidence
Views on conservative partyPage 18  ‘Only Starmer gains from this clueless plot’ – ie Labour will gain from Conservative divisions over Boris JohnsonFront cover ‘Johnson future turning toxic for Tories’ seems to be against Conservative / Boris JohnsonIn the 2017 and 2019 UK general elections, the i chose not to endorse a political party
Business over humans Lord Rothermere was a friend of Benito Mussolini and Adolf Hitler, and directed the Mail’s editorial stance towards them in the early 1930sPage 20. ‘Trade is not at heart of the EU’.
GlobalisationIts website has more than 218 million unique visitors per month
PatriotismFront cover- ‘Joyous Jubilee’ – support for royal familyFront page ‘The new Firm’ slightly critical of Royal Family
Racial superiority Page 19- ‘tired of white men being blamed for everything wrong in the world’
Nationalism Page 6 – ‘Hilarious and barmy…final parade was so very British’
MilitarismPage 25 – ‘British-Ukrainian fighter faces death penalty in Donetsk’Page 17- britian send long-range arms for the first time
Libertarianism/ authoritarianismStill uses an Editorial ie the voice of one over many?Does not have voice of editor, but an ‘Opinion Matrix’ instead ie a range of different voices and opinion – so much more freedom and plurality
Fusion of entertainment and news Page 4- Woman found out husband ghosted her after coming out of a 5 month comaDaily Mail scored an average Factual Grade of 39.7%. This is well below the average of 61.9%The paper is classified as a ‘quality‘ in the UK market but is published in the standard compact tabloid-size format.

Habermas and the Public Sphere

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

‘public engaged in critical political discussion’

‘the public sphere came to be dominated by an expanded state and organized economic interests’

‘the media manipulated mass opinion’

‘the media facilitates this process by providing an arena of public debate’

‘without advertising income, the free press could not compete with their commercial rivals’

Habermas and the public sphere

‘ a good starting point for rethinking the democratic role of the media

‘habermas argues that the development of early modern capitalism brought into being an autonomus arena for public debate’

‘the media fesilitates this process by providing an area fro public debate

‘created a new public engaged in critical political thinking’

‘the emergence of an independent, market-based press’

”bourgeois public sphere’ a public space between public domain and they state’

quotes from the book:

‘without advertisement income, the free press could not compete with their commercial rivals’

‘money wins but audience size and audience share determine content’

habermas

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.

THE PUBLIC SPHERE

  • “Habermas argues… the development of… capitalism brought into being an autonomous arena of public debate.”
  • “became a further means by which the public was sidelined.”
  • The lingering question left by Habermas is how can this model… be universalized”
  • “Classic liberal thought argues that the primary… role of the media is to act as a public watchdog”
  • “This watchdog role is said to override… all other functions of the media,”

The Public Sphere

  • “Habermas argues… the development of… capitalism brought into being an autonomous arena of public debate.”
  • “became a further means by which the public was sidelined.”
  • The lingering question left by Habermas is how can this model… be universalized”
  • “Classic liberal thought argues that the primary… role of the media is to act as a public watchdog”
  • “This watchdog role is said to override… all other functions of the media,”
  • “Within this public sphere, people collectively determine… the way in which they want to see society develop.
  • “Habermas’ study… offers a powerful and arresting vision of the role of the media in a democratic society”
  • “The media facilitates this process by providing an arena of public debate,”