Meda systems and the nternet: structural transformatons of the publc sphere? Dogenes Lycarão Unversdade Federal Flumnense E-mal: dramarc@gmal.com Abstract Ths paper endorses two arguments regardng the relatonshp between meda systems and the publc sphere takng nto account the ncreasng role performed by poltcal communcaton developed on and through the nternet. The frst argument provded s that poltcal communcaton produced by the meda systems mantans ther decsve role n makng the publc agenda dscernble. The second argument s that n the dgtal communcaton era two very decsve structures of the publc sphere became more robust n many democratc countres. The structures regard the nformatve system, and the offcal transparency. By some uses of the nternet, these structures are beng strengthened and thus both the accessblty of publc debates and the transparency of government actons are achevng an unprecedented level n many democratc countres. Keywords: democracy, publc debate, socal systems theory, journalsm, vsblty, socal networkng stes (SNSs). Introducton CITIZENS communcate wth each other and obtan nformaton about publc affars usng devces that are rather dfferent from decades ago, especally before the wdespread use of the nternet and all of the devces related to t (smart phones, tablets, note/ultra/net/books etc). But does ths scenaro of new devces also lead to new structures and logcs concernng the cycle of poltcal communcaton? Is t possble to affrm that current news makng and news recepton are completely dfferent from decades ago? Regardng Estudos em Comuncação nº 18, 1-22 Mao de 2015
2 Dogenes Lycarão ths queston, ths paper endorses two arguments, and for each one there s a correspondent secton. In the frst secton t s argued that the basc structure of meda systems seems to have remaned the same. In favour of ths argument, theoretcal and emprcal sources are presented. They support the asserton that news makers stll are specalzed n the producton of publc attenton (vsblty), and that news factors stll can explan how ths publc attenton s shaped. Furthermore the secton argues that much of what s regarded as new and as drastc changes s actually old wne n new bottles. In order to support ths argument, ths paper alludes to poltcal studes whch well before the nventon of the nternet had already ndcated how audences (opnon leaders n especal) are actve and decsve n shapng the flow of poltcal communcaton. The second secton emphaszes that, despte the same structure, some parts and related structures concernng the publc sphere are beng strengthened wth some uses of the nternet. Regardng these structures, ths paper focuses on the changes n the nformatve system and n the offcal transparency. Takng nto account that some uses of nternet produced an mpressve ncrease of the accessblty of the nformaton delvered by these structures, the artcle supports the dea that the current level of transparency, and publc debate does not have hstorcal precedent n most democratc countres. News as usual We know, snce Plato, that personal nfluence s persuasve. We also have learned that there s lttle use n askng whch medum s more mportant because each may serve dfferent functons at dfferent tmes both n decson-makng and n dffuson. (Katz, 2005: xxv). Ths paper argues that, despte of some changes, the nternet and ts socal networkng stes (SNSs) dd not change the way that the meda system works. It means that the formulatons about ths system offered by Jeffrey Alexander (1990) and more recently by Rousley Maa (2012), Danel Halln and Paolo Mancn (2004, 2012) untl now keep ther valdty. Accordng to Alexander, the meda system produces mportant resources (outputs) upon whch others [subsystems] depend. (1990: 115). Clarfyng
Meda systems and the nternet: structural transformatons of the publc sphere? 3 the man output produced by the meda system, Maa (2006: 25) defnes t as a complex of meda outlets that holds, through ts own routnes and operatve rules, the nstruments for the producton of vsblty. Accordng to ths defnton, vsblty refers not only to poltcal matters, but to everythng that s presented by the mass meda, ncludng entertanment, moves, talk shows etc (Gomes, 2008: 137). Actually ths vsblty performs an ntegratve functon of the socety to a greater extent than a delberatve one. Ths happens especally n the expressve meda whose narratves stores and fguratve resources produces symbolc patterns that create the nvsble tssues of socety on the cultural level just as the legal system creates the communty on a more concrete and real one (Alexander, 1990: 108). Ths means that whereas the socetal functon of the vsblty produced by meda systems s usually constant across dfferent countres, the delberatve attrbutes (.e. the medated delberaton) of these systems vary wth many other factors. Amongst them one can stress the regulatons enforced by the poltcal system upon the meda freedom and thus upon ts autonomy n relatonshp to market and state forces. Thus the correlaton between meda system and medated delberaton s smlar to the correlaton between poltcal system and democracy. Whereas the former can be found n any modern socety, the latter only can be reasonable dentfed n socetes that fulfl the basc requrements of a modern democratc system (free electons, separaton of powers, etc.). Therefore one can say meda that systems across dfferent countres produce vsblty (publc attenton), but only some socetes have a knd of meda system that can boost out the publcty prncple. Ths mples that the publcty prncple (see Parknson, 2006: 99) to some extent depends on vsblty snce the poltcal effects of ths prncple become unfeasble wthout mass publc attenton. For beng responsble for producng ths scope of audence, then meda systems have great mportance for the publc sphere and consequently for the publc delberaton. Hartmut Wessler (2008: 06) stress ths mportance pontng out that the large audence produced by mass meda exert an nfluence on the delberaton of decsons makers and prevent them from makng decsons that are dffcult to justfy publcly and can be expected to fnd wdespread dsapproval n meda dscourse.. Concernng ths nfluence, news meda (especally the qualty press) occupes the most mportant sector of the meda system because t encompasses the cogntve dmenson of meda representatons (Alexander, 1990: 109).
4 Dogenes Lycarão Regardng the problem of how ths mportance mpacts on the publc sphere, Maa argues that approachng the meda as a system mples recognzng that producton and dssemnaton of news occur n connecton wth economc, poltcal and cultural subsystems. (Maa, 2012: 85). In favor of ths perspectve, the work of Danel Halln and Paolo Mancn (2004, 2012) offers a valuable contrbuton, especally for mprovng our awareness of the dfferences embedded n the relatonshp between state and cvl socety when one takes nto account the dfferent socal poltcal contexts. Accordng to them, any judgment we make about a meda system has to be based on a clear understandng of ts socal context. (Halln & Mancn, 2004: 15). Thus, many of the trats that are ascrbed to the meda n dfferent countres mght be explaned through the share of power that each sector of socety (.e. markets forces, the state, and cvl socety) holds n those countres. That s why the models of meda systems descrbed by the authors correspond to dfferent patterns that each aforementoned sector presents. In fact, n socetes whose market forces are stronger, the meda tend to be more commercalzed, and socetes whose state exercse greater power, tend to mpose strct control or regulatons on meda system. In lght of ths nfluence that poltcal systems have on meda, Halln and Mancn (2012: 293-294) acknowledge the crtcal assessment made by Afonso de Albuquerque (2012: 94), who ponts out that poltcal parallelsm s more dffcult to measure n countres wth a presdental system than n those wth a parlamentaran one, because poltcal partes play a less actve role n the government. It means that the way how the poltcal system s shaped has an mpact on the stratfcaton structure of the publc sphere that was descrbed by Bernhard Peters (2008: 125). It s valuable to note that the research of Ferree and colleagues (2002) had already presented concrete evdence of that, precsely because ther comparson of aborton dscourse n US and German qualty dales showed that the stronger the tradtonal poltcal medators (partes), the more ntensely the meda system tends to use them as the man sources. Thus n democratc presdental systems, the meda seems to present a larger spectrum of poltcal eltes and opnon leaders beyond the borders of poltcal partes, especally the meda professonals themselves, and those comng from cvl socety organzatons and socal movements.
Meda systems and the nternet: structural transformatons of the publc sphere? 5 An asserton especally sgnfcant for ths paper s that nternet and ts socal networkng stes (SNSs) do not seem to have changed ths logc at the structural level. Precsely because of the fact that the publc actvely and not only journalsts prefers to receve updates about what the poltcal eltes do and thnk, as opposed to non-elte poltcal actors. Regardng that, Ivan Dylko and colleagues presented a study statng that even YouTube s most popular poltcal news vdeos tend to feature eltes (.e. elte domnance of flter 1), be created by eltes (.e. elte domnance of flter 2), and generally consst of tradtonal meda content. (Dylko et al, 2012: 843). The authors consder ther fndngs as partcularly strkng because [...] they were obtaned from YouTube an egaltaran webste vsted by mllons of users and where any user can post any content. (bdem: 844). Ths assessment reveals some problematc premses because t assumes that tradtonal meda output s merely the result of what journalsts and meda professonals consder as relevant to become news, wthout takng nto account the audences demands, and the news factors (Elders, 2006). Then accordng to the gatekeepng perspectve adopted by Dylko and colleagues, the news outputs could be predcted by dentfyng the flters that news nformaton must pass through from ncepton to dstrbutons (Dylko et al, 2012: 836). These flters n turn could be dentfed by analysng the news meda organzatons, nsttutons (e.g. the journalsm ndustry), and the ndvduals (e.g. journalsts). Nevertheless even the gatekeepng studes themselves have already shown that news values was a better predctor of how promnently the blls were covered than the characterstcs of the people who wrote them. (Shoemaker et al, 2008: 83). Snce these news values and the news factors related to them do not only serve as exclusvely journalstc crtera, but as general human selecton crtera (Elders, 2006: 09), then t turns out that journalsts tend to select the same knd of content that the recpents usually do and vce-versa (for further evdence n ths regard see Neuman et al, 2014). Ths alternatve premse s able to explan the results of Dylko and colleagues (2012) research, whch provdes evdence that the audence select and prefer the same type of content as journalsts. It happens because meda professonals and the audence to some extent share the same understandng about what s relevant to be news. That s why news consumpton on nternet s confrmng mass communcaton as usual, ncludng those patterns of dstrbuton
6 Dogenes Lycarão that Dylko and colleagues assume n ther study as beng part of the nternet era. Accordng to them, there s also evdence of the democratzaton of the gatekeepng process specfcally, for the thrd flter (bdem: 844). Whereas the frst and second flters are respectvely the news sourcng and the news producton, the thrd flter regards to the news dstrbuton. The evdences presented by Dylko and colleagues ndcate that: [...] over one-thrd of the most popular vdeos n the sample reled on no tradtonal meda content at all, whch shows a small amount of democratzaton for the second flter of content creators. All of ths suggests that ctzens can now create ther own poltcal news content, ndependent of manstream tradtonal meda, and effectvely dstrbute t to a massve audence. (bdem: 844) For the authors, t means wth ths last flter, the gatekeepng concept appears to be drastcally dfferent from what t was durng the pre-nternet era. (bdem: 846). Here the authors seem to accept another questonable premse, whch assumes that durng the pre-nternet era the audences ddn t use to play an mportant role n nterpretng and dssemnatng ther nterpretaton about eltes thoughts and threads. Notwthstandng the hypothess of the two-step flow of communcaton had already conceved, before the fftes, the dea of an actve part of the audence (the opnon leaders) actng as dssemnators and nterpreters of eltes deas. Ths dea came up wth the study developed by Paul Lazarsfeld, Bernard Berelson and Hazel Gaudet about the meda effects of the 1940 presdental campagn n Unted States, and the fndngs of that study ndcated that the effect of the mass meda was small as compared to the role of personal nfluences. (Katz & Lazarsfeld, 2006: 03). Elhu Katz and Paul Lazarsfeld explan ths lmted effect gvng further detals of those fndngs: For the leaders reported much more than the non-opnon leaders that for them, the mass meda were nfluental. Peced together ths way, a new dea emerged the suggeston of a two-step flow of communcaton. The suggeston bascally was ths: that deas, often, seem to flow from rado and prnt to opnon leaders and from them to the less actve sectons of the populaton. (Katz & Lazarsfeld, 2006[1955]: 32).
Meda systems and the nternet: structural transformatons of the publc sphere? 7 But rather than rado and prnt t could be any other meda outlet (medum) because what matters s the flow of communcaton n whch dfferent communcaton practces are performed n dfferent stuatons, and n dstnct socal systems. Durng the fortes, the lnes between these dfferent communcaton practces were ndeed clear. Mass communcaton used to be produced n rado and prnt meda, nterpersonal communcaton n turn used to be produced n face-to-face stuatons, lke n saloons, churches, at partes, between famles, and so forth. In the dgtal communcaton era, probably these places and stuatons mantan ther mportance, but now these socal networks are ncreasngly developng onlne versons. In addton, the nternet presents many sorts of stuatons where ctzens keep n touch, and ether often or eventually talk about poltcs. It could be sad that, regardng these stuatons there are mass communcaton sources, opnon leaders, and opnon followers smlar to the descrpton by Lazarsfeld and colleagues. Evdences for that were provded by the study of Jaewon Yang and Jure Leskovec (2011), who durng one year tracked two sets of quoted phrases. One was a set of 580 mllon Tweets, and the other one was comprsed of 170 mllon blog posts and news. They found out that the adopton of quoted phrases tends to be much qucker and drven by a small number of large nfluental stes (Yang & Leskovec, 2011: 09). Ths massve data thus suggests that the basc structures of the poltcal communcaton cycle reman very smlar to the mass communcaton era. One the other hand, a sgnfcant change promoted by the dgtal communcaton era s that the lnes between mass communcaton and nterpersonal communcaton have been blurred. Ths blurrng can be regarded as somethng new because SNSs lead to a trcky stuaton n whch dfferent communcaton practces coexst on the same dsplay. Thus f the current uses of the nternet call attenton to a worldwde role occuped by SNSs such as Facebook, Twtter and Youtube (Pew Research Center, 2012), t s also sgnfcant how the content shared and commented on by users of these socal networks often comes from tradtonal meda outlets, ncludng those created by the both broadsheet and tablod press. Moreover, as the study of Dylko and colleagues (2012) shows, often even content not created by ths knd of meda follows the mass communcaton pattern, especally regardng the most vewed, shared, lked and top trend peces.
8 Dogenes Lycarão In sum, f the nternet and SNSs on one hand s blurrng a clear dstncton between mass communcaton and nterpersonal communcaton, the cycle of poltcal communcaton and ts dfferent steps on the other hand seem to be the same. Regardng ths cycle and ts dfferent steps, the frst one concerns the meda system outputs. The second step occurs when most actve sectons of the publc approprate, nterpret, and dssemnate these outputs. Ths entre schema mples a dfference n tmng. The emprcal support for ths would consst of demonstratng that there s a frst step made by news makers and thereafter a second one by actve sectors of the audence. Regardng ths emprcal challenge, the research conducted by Leskovec and colleagues (2009: 07) s mpressve snce t demonstrates that thread volume n blogs reaches ts peak typcally 2.5 hours after the peak thread volume n the news sources. Ths fndng seems perfectly sutable to descrbe the second step flow of communcaton snce research suggests that those gong onlne for poltcal nformaton, often from poltcal blogs, are more lkely to be opnon leaders (Xenos & Km, 2008, p.488). Takng nto account that blogs and SNSs can be regarded as a typcal envronment of opnon leaders and consequently of the most actve parts of the audence, the emprcal evdence at stake supports the understandng that ctzens are usng new technologes n order to undertake old communcaton practces. Wth respect to these practces, Katz (1957: 77) translated the hypothess of the two-step-flow of communcaton pontng out that most spheres focus the group s attenton on some related part of the world outsde the group, and t s the opnon leader s functon to brng the group nto touch wth ths relevant part of ts envronment through whatever meda are approprate. (my emphass). Once, churches, partes, famles, unverstes and a myrad of socalzaton moments were responsble for fulfllng ths communcaton practce. Now many use SNSs and blogs as approprate ones. In short, old wne n new bottles. It s the same wne because the meda system s yet responsble for makng the publc agenda dscernble, for the producton of vsblty and therefore for arrangng the cogntve and symbolc resources that promote the self-understandng of hghly dfferentated socetes (Alexander, 1990). Ths pcture on the one hand frustrated enthusastc expectatons, such as those comng from the cyberculture paradgm, whch clamed that the nter-
Meda systems and the nternet: structural transformatons of the publc sphere? 9 net was promotng the lberaton of the communcatve potental of audences (Lemos, 2006). Ths approach seemed to support the dea that mass communcaton dd not use to fulfl the communcatve demands of audences and that t used to exercse a monopoly of emsson. Snce the nternet promsed to be a technology that could break ths monopoly, ts dssemnaton would have the encapsulated power of ncreasng the vsblty of ordnary ctzens, of socal movements, and of the counter-publcs n a way that the mass communcaton supposedly used to hnder. However the emprcal research here presented gves sold evdence that the vsblty of current socetes s stll focused on the poltcal eltes and that the confguraton of these eltes vares much more wth soco-poltcal structures than wth the dssemnaton of the nternet. Moreover, the current uses of ths communcaton technology s gvng further evdence that mass communcaton s not predomnantly a product of technology, but of a communcatve practce that s shaped actvely by the audences n a dynamc and nteractve process wth meda professonals. On the other hand, the current uses of the nternet are also frustratng opposng perspectves, such as those concerned about the balkanzaton and fragmentaton of the publc sphere (Davs, 2005; Sunsten, 2001). Especally worred about ths, Habermas (2006: 423) ponted out that the rse of mllons of fragmented onlne forums across the world rather than strengthenng the publc sphere lead to the fragmentaton of large but poltcally focused mass audences nto a huge number of solated ssue publcs. Mssng on ths scenaro s the fact that there s also a huge amount of SNS and blogs that share to a large extent the same agenda, and focus on the same topcs that were made vsble by the mass meda (Caccatore et al, 2012; Leskovec et al, 2009, Neuman et al, 2014; Yang & Leskovec, 2011; Xenos & Km, 2008). The balkanzaton and deologcal extremsm mght be a real threaten to the democratc lfe, but t was not created by the nternet, and there s scarce emprcal evdence supportng that t expands ths poltcal phenomenon more than the usual factors, such as economc and socal crses. Nevertheless t would be counter-ntutve sayng that nothng more decsve changed wth the dgtal communcaton era, especally when so many great efforts have been made n order to dentfy changes n the publc sphere trggered by the nternet varable. Indeed many changes are takng ther course and t s not the ntenton of ths paper to deny them. Actually the man pur-
10 Dogenes Lycarão pose so far was just to pont out that most of what are beng affrmed as new, drastc changes, or as post-mass meda functons followed by new technologes were already dentfed by studes publshed well before these new technologes appeared. But what could we regard as relevant changes wthn ths dgtal era of communcaton? Concernng ths queston, some emprcal evdence and grounds wll be presented n order to ndcate mportant transformatons n some structures related to the publc sphere. It s mportant to note that s not the ntenton of ths paper to dentfy all the changes, but just to emphasze some aspects that seem relevant for an updated comprehenson about how meda systems are workng currently and, what t means for the understandng of the contemporaneous publc sphere. Regardng ths, one can observe predomnantly news as usual, but there are some tradtonal communcaton practces that are strengthenng pre-exstng structures related to the publc sphere and thus fndng new levels of nfluence. It means old wne n new bottles, yet a wne becomng even better for democratc tastes. Ths artcle wll now explore these structures and ther expanson durng the dgtal communcaton era n democratc countres. Interpretng news wth more sources and arguments than usual Andrew Feenberg (2011: 03) remnds us that technology s not an ndependent varable but s co-constructed by the socal forces t organzes and unleashes. Thus, n order to understand some mportant changes that the nternet has been assocated wth, one need to take nto account the socal forces that organze ts uses n the everyday lfe. In ths regard, f nternet s a worldwde technology, socal forces and ther structures are not. Ths means that the knds of poltcal systems, poltcal cultures and cvl socety organzaton levels are crucal to understand some mportant processes that are expandng over the last decades. Consderng ths, we could conceve that, at least n democratc countres wth a strong cvc culture and a hgh level of poltcal freedom, some uses of nternet and SNSs are strengthenng the second step flow of communcaton and probably the thrd step as well.
Meda systems and the nternet: structural transformatons of the publc sphere? 11 Ths thrd step occurs when audences produce resources that affect news makers, eventually changng the patterns of news makng, and ndrectly the atttudes of poltcal representatves as well. The ncluson of ths thrd step n the poltcal communcaton cycle s crucal snce t depcts the multdrectonal fluxes of nfluence that take place n the publc sphere. Ths multdrectonal approach overcomes the very lnear scheme suggested by the orgnal hypothess of the two step flow of communcaton, whch yet assume that there are effects comng from the meda nto the drecton of the audences. As we have seen above, these effects are lmted because between the audences and the mass meda there are the opnon leaders operatng as one of the ntervenng varables. Mssng n ths scheme s the nfluence of audences and opnon leaders affectng not just ther followers, but the meda system as well. Therefore a thrd step s necessary for transformng the hypothess of the two step flow of communcaton from a lnear scheme nto a poltcal communcaton cycle more alke wth the two track model of poltcal power conceved by Habermas (1996). Actually ths more encompassng and cyclc approach was made clear by Katz (2005) n hs recent ntroducton of hs classcal work Personal Influence, co-authored wth Paul Lazarsfeld. In ths ntroducton, Katz mentons the work of Gabrel Tarde and of Jürgen Habermas n order to present a poltcal communcaton scheme where the nfluence s performed also by the audences, producng effects both n the meda, and n the poltcal system: Both Tarde (1898) and Habermas (1989) may be sad to have theorzed a publc sphere based on the sequence meda-conversatonacton. In Tarde s scheme, the meda delver a menu of these poltcal ssues to the cafes and coffee shops and salons. Dscusson of these ssues percolate more consdered opnons.. These opnons crculate from café to café untl they crystallze nto Publc Opnon, whch feeds back to government, the meda, and ndvdual decsons. As already noted, t s obvous that the two-step flow meda to conversaton to opnon has a major presence n these theores. (Katz, 2005: xxx). Ths feedback comng from the audences s a key feature of Habermas conceptualzaton (2006) of the meda system s role n poltcal communcaton. But more than beng an mportant normatve feature of the meda sys-
12 Dogenes Lycarão tem, t s mpressve how ths feedback (conceved here as the thrd step flow of communcaton 1 ) has been mplctly ndcated snce the 19 th century. The good news about the nternet s that ths same flow s currently much more trackable than before. Evdence of that was also gven by the study of Leskovec and colleagues (2009: 08) when they were able to observe that there are also phrases that propagate n the opposte way, percolatng n the blogosphere untl they are pcked up the news meda.. More recently Neuman and colleagues (2014), through bg data demonstrated the promnence of the reverse pattern n whch bloggers and tweeters also set the publc agenda. Such knd of emprcal evdence gves support for a) the hypothess that f a crtcal number of elte blogs and web stes focus ther attenton on a partcular story, t can attract the nterest of manstream meda outlets (Correa, 2011: 45) b) the assumpton that the personal nteractons and poltcal moblzaton throughout socal networks can help deas that orgnate on the perphery of the poltcal system to leak nto manstream meda and become publcly avalable on a large scale (Maa, 2012: 94). It s also mportant to emphasze that ths reverse pattern and ths leakng were not nvented by bloggers or by the nternet and thus should not be regarded as a drastc change of communcaton practces. An example of ths same process durng the pre-nternet era was gven by Danel Halln, who dentfed a change n the amount of the Amercan coverage gven to poltcal ssues. Ths amount decreased durng the seventes, but t ncreased agan due to crtcsm made by journalsts and by the audences: Just as early n the 1970s journalsts were often crtczed and crtczed themselves for falng to focus on the canddates magemakng strateges, later they were taken to task for falng to deal wth ssues. And ths crtcsm too seems to have produced sgnfcant change, wth the percent of ssue coverage turnng back up. (HALLIN, 1992: 18). Ths knd of change n coverage patterns supports the dea that n democratc socetes there s a permanent nteracton between meda professonals 1. For a conceptualzaton of the thrd step flow of communcaton at stake as subsystem of the meda system,.e. the crtcal-nterpretatve meda subsystem, see Braga (2006).
Meda systems and the nternet: structural transformatons of the publc sphere? 13 and ther audences, whch through the nterpretaton of meda content and the subsequent crculaton of such nterpretaton can produce the thrd step flow of communcaton. In emprcal terms, t means that the tmng of news makers s dfferent from the tmng of audences. Incdentally ths dfference was also measured by Leskovec and colleagues (2009: 07), who observed that the thread volume n news sources ncreases slowly but decrease quckly, whle n blogs the ncrease s rapd and decrease much slower. A smlar result was found by Xenos & Km (2008: 496) regardng the tme duraton wth whch the blogosphere kept the Alto nomnaton under debate longer than the New York Tmes dd. One mght assess such fndngs by a systemc perspectve, whch assumes that dfferent socal systems and ts correspondent dfferent communcaton practces perform specfc roles n relaton to publc delberaton. Whereas the meda system makes the publc agenda dscernble for the socety as whole, offerng a menu of the current topcs and frames of the publc dscourse, the audences approprate, and eventually transform these dscourses wth ts own pace, and wthn ts own dscursve arenas. At the same tme, the pluralty and the dfferent languages developed n these arenas offer the rsk of makng the publc communcaton between the dfferent socal systems largely mplausble. In order to overcome ths problem, the key dea that makes the publc sphere dscernble n the context of pluralstc and hghly dfferentated socetes s the nterlockng of these arenas (Mendonça & Maa, 2012). Such nterlockng has been translated durng the last two decades by several scholars through the concept of delberatve system (Habermas, 2005; Maa, 2012; Mansbrdge, 1999; Parknson & Mansbrdge, 2012). When one takes nto account the poltcal communcaton cycle descrbed above, one realses that there are sold evdences that to some extent an ntertwnng of the three steps s takng place on and through the nternet. Thus ths communcaton technology s part of the delberatve system and not somethng apart as the wdespread dfferentaton offlne x onlne delberaton suggests. Actually the nternet can be regarded as a communcatve envronment where all those steps have been developng. Regardng specfcally the second and thrd steps of the poltcal communcaton cycle, from now on I would lke to pont out some mportant structu-
14 Dogenes Lycarão res related to the publc sphere, that are beng strengthened wth some uses of the nternet. The nformatve system The frst structure s the nformatve system, whch s more encompassng than the meda system. Whereas the latter specalzes n the producton of vsblty (publc attenton), the former concerns the range of nformaton that s avalable to ctzens rather than the balance or otherwse of partcular meda outlets taken n solaton. (Page apud Parknson, 2006: 106). The nformatve system ntersects the meda system and the educatonal system, workng as an nformaton repostory wth multple layers and ssues. When one fnds some news that seems nterestng, one can use these multple layers and outlets n order to get more nformaton, or to get nvolved wth the subject matter (NGOs webstes for example). The nformatve system s therefore especally mportant because n ther attempts to make sense of the world of publc affars, ordnary people are only partally dependent on meda dscourse. (Ferree et al, 2002: 16). Maa further explans ths process: The mass meda operate as a repertore of perspectves, opnons, and dscourses that accumulate through tme. Ctzens can crtcally examne ths stock of nformaton n ther own tme and n ther own way to form ther opnon and to engage n any debate that takes place n dfferent socal settngs. (Maa, 2012: 119). Some uses of the nternet are strengthenng the nformatve system, snce the accessblty of ts deepest layers has ncreased enormously. Wth the hypertext structure of the nternet, t s easer to fnd out the meanng of words and concepts that would otherwse be taken for granted. In addton, the boostng of nsttutonal communcaton on the nternet has made t easer to access, for example, the opnon of a trade unon about a strke announced n the meda, or the Greenpeace s reasons that justfy ts dsruptve actons. Ths s an mprovement of the publc debate structure snce some of these reasons and justfcatons cannot be found n news meda at all (see Lycarão, 2011). Cleary such process s only possble f governmental agences not constantly block the poltcal content publshed onlne. Thus, n countres that assure reasonable levels of poltcal lbertes both onlne and offlne, t s pos-
Meda systems and the nternet: structural transformatons of the publc sphere? 15 sble to notce a growng accessblty to opnons and perspectves of those who are usually mere subjects of news bulletns. When one takes nto account that socal movements, NGOs and poltcal observatores are usng the nternet and SNSs n order to promote ther own perspectves about publc affars, one realses that opnon leaders and news readers are able to nterpret and make sense of the world of publc affars usng more sources and arguments than usual. Offcal transparency Regardng the nterdependence between the dfferent steps that comprse the fluxes of poltcal communcaton n the publc sphere, there s another substructure extremely mportant for delberatve practces and whch s beng strengthened as well. It concerns the offcal transparency, whch encompasses all meda outlets and forms of communcaton provded by the State and by the poltcal nsttutons n order to fulfl the publcty prncple. For example the offcal gazettes, the broadcastng of publc hearngs and of parlamentary debates etc. The mportance of the offcal transparency lays on the lmts of mass communcaton n provdng a complete and exhaustve report on representatves actons, statements and so forth. These lmts are nherent to the medated communcaton of journalsm snce ther focus les on poltcal eltes, especally on those who have greater power wthn the poltcal system. Ths focus s valuable for promotng pressure on representatves and polcymakng branches, whch are asked to nnovate. (Maa, 2012: 162). In fact journalsm often promotes accountablty not only due to ts focus on representatves and on poltcal eltes, but also due ts crtcsm va varous types of crtcal statements about those n power (Benson, 2010). However, lke any subsystem of the delberatve system, the meda has also ts shortcomngs and lmts. One of these s "that the publc never has a chance to hear a canddate - or anyone else - speak for more than about 20 seconds. (Halln, 1992: 19). And f t s true for the representatves wth greater power, the extenson of nformaton concernng those holdng mnor power wthn the poltcal system turns out to be extremely concse n news meda. Therefore a robust offcal transparency becomes extremely mportant n or-
16 Dogenes Lycarão der to delver the more encompassng knd of nformaton that s necessary for holdng representatves, and the admnstratve power n general accountable. Snce the accessblty and extenson of ths knd of nformaton ncreased enormously wth the ntatves of dgtal democracy, so t s possble to nfer that the level of offcal transparency was ntensfed as well. In Brazl, ths knd of transparency was recently mproved wth the mplementaton of the E-Sc (Electronc System of the Informaton Offce to Ctzens), whch s ntended to be a low cost and nclusve tool of transparency (see Angélco & Texera, 2012). In addton, one can fnd on the offcal webstes of the low and upper natonal chambers extensve and detaled accounts of representatves statements, draft blls etc. Regardng these ntatves of dgtal democracy, t should be acknowledged that the dgtal dvde and faulty mplementaton of ther normatve goals are problems that need to be tackled (see Marques, 2008). Despte these problems, t s plausble to affrm that regardng representatves statements and actons the current level of ther accessblty does not have hstorcal precedent n many democratc countres. However, one could argue that ths accessblty may not have mportant poltcal effects snce most ordnary ctzens lack the necessary tme and cogntve sklls to decode all of ths nformaton whch usually s made avalable through a rather bureaucratc language, or dsplayed on webstes that are not user frendly at all. Indeed t s mportant to acknowledge that makng nformaton avalable s not enough f the nformaton provded s ncapable of obtanng resonance n the publc sphere. Takng ths consderaton nto account, the role performed by organzed cvl socety turns out to be rather relevant, especally concernng those organzatons engaged n the examnaton and use of offcal transparency. Ths knd of organzaton makes offcal transparency poltcally meanngful as soon as the examnaton of publc documents s able to unvel corrupton and msuse of publc resources by representatves. Wth ths knd of nformaton n hand, the capacty of graspng publc attenton ncreases sgnfcantly. For example, the NGO Transparênca Brasl snce 2000 has been conductng ths knd of work and thus became an mportant source for qualty dales n Brazl, ncludng both onlne and offlne newspapers (see Lycarão & Sampao, 2010). Therefore, t s possble to observe that nformaton ntally avalable only on the nternet, often trggers a chan reacton and reaches the publc sphere.
Meda systems and the nternet: structural transformatons of the publc sphere? 17 At the same tme even n authortaran countres the power of the mcrochp so far was followed by a major dffculty of dctatoral regmes n controllng nformaton. On the other hand ths should not be mmedately regarded as an nternet effect snce ndependently of the nternet, radcal meda and grassroots communcaton tend to perform a stronger role n poltcal communcaton n authortaran countres, especally n perods of socal-poltcal crss (see Downng, 2001). Furthermore, Kalathl and Boas (2001) present arguments and evdences that shed lght on the capacty of authortaran regmes to mprove ther survellance sklls n the long term through the use of new technologes, ncludng the nternet as the man tool for ths purpose. Even more worryng s the fact that such survellance s most effectve and pervasve not by the hands of authortaran countres, but by a democratc one,.e. va the tentacles of the Natonal Securty Agency (the NSA). Therefore, t s pertnent to note that mprovng accessblty to new forms of communcaton and nformaton s not enough for strengthenng communcatve power. For ths, one need addtonal requrements that the technology by tself s not able to fulfl, such as a strong legal framework that assures ndvdual rghts, a wdespread poltcal trust on democracy and a cvl socety organzed towards democratc goals. Concluson Ths artcle has sought to endorse two arguments regardng the relatonshp between meda systems and the publc sphere takng nto account the ncreasng role performed by poltcal communcaton developed on and through the nternet. For ths purpose, t presented theoretcal and emprcal sources for each argument. Regardng the frst one, t supported the asserton that the meda professonals stll are specalzed n the producton of the publc attenton (vsblty), and that news factors stll can explan how ths publc attenton s shaped. Nevertheless t s not so mportant for ths argument who produces the mass communcaton (news makers content x user-generated onlne content), but the knd of relatonshp that ths communcaton establshes between ctzens and the poltcal actors and that can be explaned recurrng to news factors. In lght of that, t was possble to pont out that the publc attenton remans
18 Dogenes Lycarão focused on the poltcal eltes, and that the nsttutonal structures of the poltcal system s a varable much more mportant to explan the varances of who comprse these eltes than the technology that s used for promotng poltcal communcaton n large scale. The second argument was that n the dgtal communcaton era two very mportant structures of the publc sphere became more robust n many democratc countres. The structures at stake regard the nformatve system, and the offcal transparency. Wth some uses of the nternet, these structures expanded ther effectveness and thus both the accessblty of publc debates and the transparency of government actons mproved to an unprecedented level for many democratc countres. Nevertheless, ths does not necessarly means that these same democratc socetes have been standng progressvely closer to the normatve concepton of publc sphere. It s worth to recollect that the publc sphere s normatvely conceved as a sort of power that should constran the poltcal system n order to keep ths system accountable to the publc debate and n order to guarantee the democratc legtmacy of poltcal decsons (Habermas, 1996). Notwthstandng Habermas hmself has been argung n hs most recent works (2012; 2014) that the nternatonalsaton and the enlargement of the fnancal markets vs-à-vs the lmted and weakened power of the natonal state depcts a pcture where rather than by the publc sphere the poltcal system has been sezed by market forces. In order to break ths trend, much more than new technologes, a hgher level of delberatve democracy requres new poltcal nstruments and a new domnant cultural framework that mght be able to extend the poltcal power to the level that democracy needs for advancng ts unfnshed project,.e. the nternatonal level. Otherwse the communcatve power forged on and through the nternet wll not be able to be translated n admnstratve power. References Albuquerque, A. (2012). On Models and Margns: Comparatve Meda Models Vewed from a Brazlan Perspectve. In D.C. Halln & P. Mancn (eds.), Comparng Meda Systems Beyond Western World (pp. 72-95). Cambrdge: Cambrdge Unversty Press.
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