Page 20 - Communication Theory and Research

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Introduction and Overview 9

branch of critical enquiry largely parted company from the political economic
school, leading to separate publications and a cessation of dialogue across the
divide. It also moved to a position where popularity (variously defined) became
a criterion of merit and a guide to understanding. The political economic school
was to some extent vindicated by the large changes to media systems referred to
above that were driven by technology, economics and politics more or less in that
order. The major shift towards privatization of ‘broadcasting’ and of the telecom-
munications sector required a sophisticated understanding of the economics of
the case as well as the technology. For the cultural school, there was at least the
relative novelty in Europe of popularly driven abundance of media culture. The
Internet has opened a large range of opportunities for both ‘schools’, although it
is probably more relevant to note that it has stimulated its own branch of enquiry,
with new ideas and models, that is not rooted either in the political economic or
the popular cultural tradition.

The public sphere

The notion of a ‘public sphere’ was widely seized on during the 1990s, especially
following the translation of Habermas’ seminal study (1962) into English (1989).
It offered something of an escape route from the seemingly hopeless pursuit of
the goal of more ‘democratic media’. Commercial media were flourishing and
expanding and the one main sector of the media that was democratically
accountable (public broadcasting) was either declining or failing in its perceived
public duties. A wider concept of a sphere of free publication, discussion and
debate within a larger ‘civil society’ seemed a more realistic and still worthwhile
goal, despite its somewhat mythic origins and its elevation of rational discourse
above emotion and popular feeling (Dahlgren, 1995). It was essentially an
old-fashioned notion, but it was seen as having a potential for renewal and to
provide some solid ground for societal claims against the media and for erecting
new structures (for instance in cyberspace). The notion also appealed to those
emerging from the stern grip of communist regimes and into the embrace of
commerce. For a mixture of reasons, but especially a general response to ‘commer-
cialization’ of media, the public sphere notion has remained in play as a viable
basis for a theory of media–society relations.

Communication policy

The various technological and system changes that have been mentioned as
taking place in Europe during the last twenty-five years have to some extent been
the result of new policies on the part of national governments and of the European
Union (especially in its search for an integrated market in media as in other sectors).
Where not policy-led, it has been aided and legitimated by policy, opening up an
expanding field of enquiry. Previously, communication policy was largely confined