The Public Sphere - Essay Example

?TO WHAT EXTENT DO THE NEWS MEDIA FULFIL HABERMAS’ DEFINITION OF THE PUBLIC SPHERE? There are a variety of news media which publicize important information to the public. Each particular medium has its own advantages and disadvantages in the way in which it notifies the public major happens round the world (Marx, 2002, p. 289). These news media have been considered to promote the public sphere in many ways since they create a forum through which citizens can share their thoughts and ideas. Habermas gives his thoughts on what the public sphere means to him. He considers it to be an arena where citizens can meet and share their views. By saying meeting it does not necessarily mean practical meetings, but rather it refers to any forum in which citizens can be heard. This essay tries to explore the different ways in which televisions in particular promotes the idea of public sphere. Odugbemi (2008, p.15) agrees that since televisions are among the news media that visually present their news, they have been found to be the most preferred news medium. According to Habermas, public sphere is a domain in which public views and opinions are formed (Marx, 2002, p. 295). It can also be said to be an arena where people meet, share ideas regarding the public, discuss this ideas and finally come up with a public opinion. The arena can be looked at from different perspectives for instance it can be a particular place where people meet (social halls), or it can be an infrastructural communication facility through which individuals can exchange opinions (television). Habermas considers the public sphere to be a utility that promotes participatory democracy, since democracy emphasizes on citizens’ right of expression. Marx (2002, p. 324) contends that good functioning of the public sphere stresses on good participatory of citizens in matters of the public like governance. Let us then make a critical analysis on the ways which televisions use to promote the public sphere, and how successful they have been. First we have to understand the fundamental role of TVs as we explore their public sphere promotional function. Odugbemi (2008, p. 33) asserts that televisions’ primary function is to let people be aware of new happenings across the globe. They provide important information to all the stakeholders in particular happenings for example in times of disasters. In disaster cases, they make the public aware of such a situation, so that citizens can know what to do. Sociologically, TVs act like a “social glue” which brings people together by giving them similar information regardless of their geographic boundaries. In public sphere promotion, they create a means through which citizens can share their ideas (Odugbemi, 2008, p. 37). If we consider a disaster case like in cases of fire accidents, TV journalists are always punctual and ready to inform the public about what had just happened. Einwiller, Carroll and Korn (2010, p. 299) asserts that through appropriate coordination, journalists liaise with presenters in the broadcasting such news. However, the fact remains that journalists are always not present on the happening of the accidents. Then how do they get to know what had happened? This can be done through journalists questioning the people who were present during the happening. They can even put them on camera as they give their account of what had happened (Hurvitz, 2001, p. 12). Through such sharing, the public can be able to estimate the causes of the accident and the effects. Televisions are among the best agents of public sphere promotions since their events can be visually examined. According to Hurvitz (2001, p. 14) televisions have also presented people’s views during public demonstrations by giving people a chance to express how they feel about a particular issue of concern. Citizens’ public demonstrations can be of no use if they cannot be given a chance to express themselves. Their demonstrations can otherwise be considered to be noise, if no forum can give them a chance to explain the cause of their actions. TVs are the best news media in such a case because they are visual hence the people’s anger can be clearly perceived. During demonstrations, for instance students’ demonstrations can be done for the students to publicly air their views (Claussen, 2004, p. 212). Through this the parties concerned will be able to follow up the issue so as to avoid such future occurrences. Some TV programs have influenced individuals socially for example how they relate with other people in society (Hurvitz, 200, p. 14). These programs range from those which are morally educative to those whose role is purely entertainment. TV stations can air movies aimed at educating the young people on different social issues from which these individuals can make appropriate choices. Other programs give the youths an opportunity to share their experiences, so that those watching these programs can draw moral lessons from them. Unfortunately, some of these programs have had a negative impact on the youths as they end up making wrong decisions (Hurvitz, 2001, p. 15). For example where program actors do some actions like smoking, some youths may try actual smoking so as to experience the feeling. The world of business is among the great beneficiaries of TV presentations. Many businesses have prospered due to good marketing strategies (Einwiller, Carroll and Korn, 2010, p. 315). The general public cannot be aware of a company’s existence unless they are told about it and what it does. Companies have an opportunity to market their products in televisions through advertisements. Here the public sphere is promoted when different advertisements regarding a similar product are presented. From that individuals can be able to settle for the product that best suit their needs. Minus such advertisements, someone may settle for other products which might not even satisfy their needs (Zhang and Swanson, 2006, p. 13). Furthermore, TVs offer forums where business experts discuss various business-related issues, which are of great benefit to many individuals. Sports news is equally important when it comes to the general public. We have heard of other people even committing suicide on hearing some unexpected sports news (Zhang and Swanson, 2006, p. 14). Televisions have also greatly invested in sports news in order to promote their popularity. You can find different TV stations airing live major sports events, or carrying out interviews with particular sports specialists, so as to shed more light on particular issues. From such a case, sports fans that missed a particular sports event live, can do that through TVs. Through such TV interviews interactive questions can be asked by the sports fans (Claussen, 2004, p. 218). Consequently, the fans are kept updated. This will have the sports fans to know what is happening in the field of sport worldwide. Some TV stations have come up with programs where they interview leaders of all fields ranging from foreign affairs to internal affairs of a particular state. During this shows, they give the public a change to question their leaders and share with them their feelings (Fengler, 2003, p. 818). This is one way in which the media checks the abuse of office by public officials. When presented such an opportunity, citizens will be able to remind their leaders about their broken promises. Such forums will improve by a small significance the performance of leaders as they try to refrain from embarrassing themselves during the shows. Zhang and Swanson (2006, p. 15) concurs that leaders will try to have a good reputations before their people hence they will always try to be good to them. During elections, TVs play a great role in informing voters what the principle candidates are doing. Through the information that the medium presents, voters are able to decide on which candidate they can give their vote (Frost, Frank and Maibach, 2001, p. 842). TV journalists will never miss in any public rally to gather information which they can later present to the public. Voters might lack all the time needed to attend public rallies, nevertheless they are never worried because they know that TVs can present the occurrences of such meetings even better. They even go a step further to discuss some of the candidates’ policies offloading citizens the burden of doing that themselves, and all they do is just listen. Fengler (2003, p. 822) argues that without such knowledge, voters might even be swayed into making wrong decisions due to ignorance. An opinion poll strategy is employed by televisions to promote public sphere as a sample of citizens is taken and studied (Zhang and Swanson, 2006, p. 17). When TV stations want to tell the public how a majority of the people feel about a particular issue, they mostly go to the ground, collect information and come up with generalizations. This is where the local population is presented with an opportunity to share their views. While the population sample which consist of state locals share their views honestly, some biased researchers see this opportunity as a means to attain their subjective interests. Popular politicians go all the way to buy some of this TV stations in order for the polls to be announced it their favor (Fengler, 2003, p. 828). A great number of voters have been highly influenced by such misleading polls. Finally, televisions have not had an easy way through this role, since they are faced with different challenges which threaten their efficiency (Frost, Frank and Maibach, 2001, p. 845). Politics is a very dirty game where malicious leaders want to disable their colleagues politically. Since politics deals with the powerful class in society, televisions have been forced at times to compromise their professional ethics, so as to please some leaders. On the other hand, some politicians can command what they feel the public should know about them. Consequently, they go ahead and dictate to journalists what they should do. Fengler (2003, p. 832) explains that such incidences have led the public into deception since they are fed with wrong information. Through such actions, democracy which is considered to the main feature of the public sphere is seen to lead to the election of popular rather than competent leaders. References Claussen, S 2004, Cognitive Dissonance, Media Illiteracy, and Public Opinion on News Media, The American Behavioral Scientist, vol. 48(2), pp. 212-218. Einwiller, S.A., Carroll, C.E. & Korn, K 2010, Under What Conditions Do the News Media Influence Corporate Reputation? The Roles of Media Dependency and Need for Orientation, Corporate Reputation Review, Vol. 12(4), pp. 299-315. Fengler, S 2003, Holding the News Media Accountable: a Study of Media Reporters and Media Critics in the United States, Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly, vol. 80(4), P818-832. Frost, K., Frank, E. & Maibach, E 2001, Relative risk in the news media: A quantification of misrepresentation, American Journal of Public Health, vol. 87(5), P842-845. Hurvitz, D.J. 2001, News Media Yellow Book, Public Relations Quarterly, vol. 46(1), pp.12-15. Marx, M. et al, 2002, Four models of the public sphere in modern democracies, Theory and society, 31(3), pp. 289–324. Odugbemi, A. 2008, Public opinion, the public sphere, and quality of governance: An exploration, Washington, D.C.: The World Bank, pp. 15-37. Zhang, J. & Swanson, D 2006, Analysis of News Media Representation of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), Public Relations Quarterly, vol. 51(2), pp. 13-17. Read More