Page 44 - Communication and Citizenship Journalism and the Public Sphere

RETHINKING THE MEDIA AS A PUBLIC SPHERE 33

between government and governed, except in an oblique sense. Liberal
commentators have tended to respond to this quandary in one of three
ways. Some have criticized the growth of media entertainment as a
regrettable diversion from the media’s central democratic purpose and
function, while others have simply ignored the existence of
entertainment and discussed the media as if its political content was its
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central or defining characteristic. The third response has been to
discuss entertainment as if it is a separate category unrelated to the
political role of the media; and to define the liberal position as the
provision of entertainment in a form that maximizes consumer
gratification. 6
In contrast, media entertainment is accommodated without difficulty
within a radical framework of analysis since it is not wedded to a
narrow, state-oriented definition of politics. Most media output is, as
Raymond Williams once put it, a way of ‘talking together about the
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processes of our common life’. It offers a commentary on the nature of
social relations between men and women, parents and children, young
and old, the ethnic majority and minorities—on what they are and, by
implication, on what they might become. It can also provide a means of
obtaining a better understanding of others in a way that fosters
empathetic insights between different sections of society and
strengthens bonds of social association. Conversely, media
entertainment can do the opposite: it can foster misunderstanding and
antagonism through the repetition of stereotypes that provide a focus for
displaced fears.
This has given rise to the contention that a distinction should be made
between different forms of entertainment. While the provision of
pleasure through the media is an important public good, entertainment
should not be judged solely in terms of consumer gratification. Media
fiction should also provide, it is argued, an adequate way for society to
commune with itself. This is usually defined as promoting human
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understanding, mutuality and tolerance, either in classic humanist or
feminist terms.
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The more inclusive definition of what is political in the radical
democratic approach also brings out more fully the latent ideological
meanings of all media output. Entertainment can provide a way of
exploring, experimenting with and expressing a concept of self in
relation to others (‘Whom am I like, whom do I identify with, whom do
I have a shared interest with?’) which can have important political
consequences. Media fiction and human interest stories also provide a
way of mapping and interpreting society. This can promote a