Page 95 - Culture Technology Communication

80 Barbara Becker and Josef Wehner

citizens. Mass media cannot exist without this foundation of deliber-
ate associations, because otherwise, the formal structure and the
clear professional separation between the producers and the audito-
rium would not be able to mediate between politics and citizens. Par-
tial public spheres, like these non-formal associations, are more
characterized by authenticity, creativity and sensibility; that is to
say, partial public opinion is more open towards those problems and
interests which are not represented in public opinion generated by
mass media.
According to Habermas, partial public spheres have to inter-
vene between the generalized and formal functional systems, on the
one hand, and the vivid lifeworld of citizens, on the other hand. So-
cial movements and community pressure groups raise the real prob-
lems of citizens and present them to political institutions and their
representatives. Public opinion produced by such informal groups is
not only a very important indicator of whether the system as a whole
is functioning; furthermore, here exists a vivid power of innovation,
critique and creativity through presenting different perspectives to
political institutions and through considering the diversity of vari-
ous viewpoints. In this respect, it seems that the new electronic
media support the actual trend of citizens’ political interests and en-
gagement shifting from the traditional political institutions and
their programs to more thematically focused and timely, restricted
initiatives and movements without being forced to develop a deeper
commitment (“mouse-click activism”).
As we have already described, only organized actors such as po-
litical parties or powerful companies get the opportunity to speak to
an audience with the help of mass media. The more mass media be-
come commercialized and controlled by only a few large-scale actors
like Time Warner, Bertelsmann, or Rupert Murdoch, the less indi-
viduals, groups and smaller-scale political actors have the chance to
articulate autonomously their opinions in newspapers, radio, or tel-
evision. Thus, on this level mass media tend to deny the empirical
heterogenity of cultures existing in the society. Until now there has
been only little technical support to enable unorganized people to
publish their opinions. Apart from meetings and assemblies there
were only small-scale newspapers or pamphlets to present their
opinions and to organize their activities. The Internet has changed
this situation by providing this zone of political communication with
new technical capacities of public communication.
Through the Internet, individuals are provided with a broader
range of insider information about news that has been disseminated