Recently, I was able to work with ACCLAIM magazine for the Carbon Festival.
It was an incredible experience and I was inspired by so many fantastic artists. We were able to sit in on the forums, attend the events after. We also met some of the speakers, such as Janette Beckman – who is a true inspiration to me.
I learnt so much within the 4 days and was overwhelmed with the amount of inspiring people.
Is Boeder right when he argues ‘the conventional notion of a single, unified public sphere is likely to disappear in favor of a more segmented, pluralist model’? Demonstrate by using a contemporary example of mediated public discourse.
Habermass’ definition of the ‘public sphere’ has become “increasingly relevant and increasingly problematic”. Social media and how it delivers the “news” differs from the once conventional way in which the news was shown and read. Social media allows for news to be shown in different ways – another platform of opinions that differ and conflict each other. Communication technology no longer follows the straightforward model of traditional news gathering organisations, rather being, shown in an unprecedentedly fluid form that can differ and change depending on a target audience and how ‘they’ (controllers of platform – pr agencies, companies etc) want the news to be perceived. While there is no denying that the physical nature of the public sphere has changed dramatically, it is worth noting that Habermass identifies the notion as being fundamentally conceptual (virtual and abstract). Boeder’s suggestion that the public sphere has become segmented or pluralist, simply identifies a realistic assumption that could be made about an increasingly diverse and vocal public.
– Boeder, P 2005, ‘Habermas’ heritage: the future of the public sphere in the network society’, First Monday, Volume 10, Number 9. –
How, according to Altheide, does the mass media construct a discourse of fear?
Mass media constructs the discourse of fear through continuous news, talk shows, dramatic TV – this highlighting violence and what should be “feared” within the world. The mass media presents stories in a way that directs to the audience in an emotive way – this enabling the audience to feel somewhat of a connection with the situation or event. The embedding of fear of the emotional side can perhaps convert the audience to feel that they themselves can be the victim. The media embellishes and capitalises on these stories and events and therefore it constructs a discourse of fear throughout society.
– Altheide, D 2002, ‘The Lens of Fear’, in Creating Fear: News and the Construction of Crisis’, Aldine De Gruyter, New York, pp. 175-198.-
According to Habermas, what role did newspapers play in the emergence of the public sphere?
Public opinion is accessible to all citizens – “private individuals assemble to form a public body” (portion of public sphere). Newspapers started to be a “compilation” of notices and were once seen as mere “institutions” of publications for the news . Newspapers then emerged to be in fact a higher opinion and a ‘leader’ of public opinions of the news. Newspapers, along with magazines, radio and television are the media of the public sphere. This introduced the difference of gathering news information and the publication of the news – as it news papers now enforced a ‘public opinion’ rather than just stating factual information / notices. This making news the “dealer” of the publics opinion rather than the “vendor” of recent news.
– Habermas, J 2009 ‘The Public Sphere: An Encyclopedia Article’, in Media and Cultural Studies: Keyworks, Wiley-Blackwell, Hoboken, pp. 73-78. –
I don’t know where that time has gone or what I did with it – but it feels like I never left University or had a Summer break. Not sure if that is a good thing or a bad thing yet…
Just completed the first week of the year and I am feeling mixed emotions – a huge sense of excitement to get started on projects, a little bit of fear on whether I can balance work and University and a bit of confusion. On a whole, I think these are all normal feelings.
My first year felt like a bit of a test run – to get my bearings, really. I don’t think I made the most of it though. I want to say I did – but I don’t think I used the course to my advantage. This year, I want to change things up a little bit. I want to push myself creatively – experiment and have fun with what I make and what I do. I think last year I was stuck in the VCE mode – getting the best marks possible and following a criteria. From the Sumer break, which I’m sure I had, I realised that, yes I want to get good marks but more than that, I really want to make the most out of what is on offer. I want to see what I can do and see the real reason why I chose this course.
I want to challenge myself but more than that – I want to truly find out what I can do and what I can make. I am capable of more, I know that, I just need to do it. I need to stop procrastinating and start to put 100% into everything I do.
So, I am going to stick with Nike’s advice –
and do it well…