Conference paper

Media and the Public Spheres –European Idea and Ideal

John Keane ; Centre for the Study of Democracy, University of Westminster, UK.

Abstract

The present decline of public service broadcasting is related to the transformation
of the public sphere driven by the new galaxy of communication. The traditional argument
of scarcity no longer applies in times of media and information abundance,
and public service broadcasting loses its privileged place of the keeper of the public
space. The transformation of the public sphere that is linked to the new media abundance
is evidenced by the fragmentation and modularisation of publics served by different
types of media. At the micro public level, the local and community media create
virtual spaces of the public, at the mezzo level the national media facilitate mezzo
publics, and the World Wide Web, faxes and the whole galaxy of communication enable
the appearance of the macro publics at the global level. Even though the concept
of public service media in its traditional sense is no longer viable, the concept of public
spheres remains very important to democracy, as an original.

Keywords

Hrčak ID:

26297

URI

https://hrcak.srce.hr/26297

Publication date:

12.12.2000.

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