Page 92 - Culture Technology Communication

Electronic Networks and Civil Society 77

cal parties or social movements who use the internet to extend their
facilities. So, while computer networks will be used for electronic
commerce or be commercialized by firms, there will be other elec-
tronic networks characterized by non-profit motives and values (see
Kleinsteuber 1996).]

Electronic Networks and Civil Society

The functional differentiation of modern societies implies a plurality
and multiplicity of different perspectives and ways of world-making.
Therefore, modern societies can be compared to a chaotic field. Every
partial system not only has to eliminate its internal complexity, but
also determine its relationship to its environment and define its lim-
its (Luhmann 1997). This is especially true for the political system
as it is confronted with manifold expectations as developed by other
functional systems. To eliminate this complexity, political systems
have to develop strategies for selecting themes and topics. Consid-
ering this problem, public opinion can be regarded as a mechanism
for preselecting relevant themes and reducing complexity by gener-
ating particular techniques to filter information.
In particular, mass media have undertaken this function and
2
has even institutionalized it (compare Alexander 1988). Journalists
select and prepare information and themes by following particular
criteria that prevent them from presenting everything as they focus
on particular topics. So, television and newspapers, aiming at a
mainstream audience, report on political events by taking the posi-
tion of a gatekeeper and controlling what will be presented and what
will be hidden. Processes of selecting and filtering information and
presenting relevant topics to political institutions can be regarded as
the most important function of mass media (Luhmann 1971). Only
the conventional mass media present converging views about the ex-
pectations and needs of citizens. They focus the attention of different
individuals and groups on a single issue and create a strong “public
opinion” which can influence the attention of the politicians and the
direction of the political decision making. By looking at the head-
lines of the newspapers and the news of the television magazines
every political actor can see what political action has been consid-
ered as relevant and what effects on other political actors can be ob-
served. The specific power of mass media is due to its capacity to
motivate political actors to become interested in specific themes. Ac-
cordingly, the messages of mass media have to be formulated in a