Blogosphere: fifth estate or new public sphere?

If the public sphere is the space between the state and society (Castells 2008 p78) where the ‘public’s open ended, critical argumentation and debate’ leads to consensus (Benson 2009 p176), what then shall we call the blogosphere, that ‘global public sphere built around the media communication system and Internet networks’ (Castells 2008 p90)?  As globalisation expands, the emergence of an international public sphere, a networked place where issues of global importance not just national sovereignty can be debated, is crucial (Castells 2008 p80). 

Image source: http://blogs.cornell.edu/newmedia10krd54/2010/03/18/how-social-network-sites-obscure-the-public-sphere/

An examination of the Australian political blogosphere, a ‘networked public sphere,’ acknowledged the importance of looking at ‘everyday and popular communication’ (Bruns et al 2011, p278).  The concept of network is integral to both the public sphere and the blogosphere: a ‘network for communicating information and points of view’ (Habermas in Castells 2010 p78).

Commercialisation of the press led to transformation of the public sphere from an independent forum for critical debate to a ‘platform for advertising’ (Habermas cited in Benson 2009).  As the traditional commercial media, such as newspapers, struggle to survive, the claim of objectivity in commercial journalism is questioned as corporate journalists inexorably fall prey to Herman and Chomsky’s propaganda model and ‘self censor in order to protect and advance their economic position’ (Steel 2012 p163).

The Myth of the Liberal Media, with Noam Chomsky

Source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KYlyb1Bx9Ic

In civil society, the role of journalism is that of the Fourth Estate, a ‘watchdog’ over the state, the church and the people, but existing outside it, ensuring freedom of the press to facilitate democracy (Steel 2013, p36).  

The blogosphere now includes social media as well as “traditional” blogs.  The purpose of blogosphere is ‘to monitor the media, in much the same way that the media are believed to perform the role of watching the first three estates’ and some see it as superior to mainstream media (Jericho 2012, p1).

Image source: http://social-icons.com/50-free-social-media-icons-mixed-designs/

Ever-increasing concentration of media ownership sees inevitable reduction in diversity of commentary and opinion (Steel 2012, p5).   So to find our diversity in opinion, the unfiltered analysis, we increasingly look to blogs such as The Conversation, and Twitter feeds from respected journalists such as Michelle Grattan, Chris Uhlmann and Annabel Crabb (Jericho 2012, p297), although those with a media baron breathing down their necks would be inevitably self censoring.

When eminent political journalists such as Michelle Grattan leave the traditional commercial media (The Age newspaper) for the halls of academia and online journalism, it can only enhance the legitimacy of the blogosphere's role as the new, true public sphere.

References:

Benson, Rodney 2009, ‘Shaping the Public Sphere: Habermas and Beyond’, The American Sociologist, Vol. 40, No. 3, Springer. 

http://www.jstor.org.ezproxy-f.deakin.edu.au/stable/pdfplus/20638842.pdf retrieved 28/8/2013

Bruns Axel, Burgess Jean, Highfield Tim, Kirchhoff Lars and Nicolai Thomas 2011, ‘Mapping the Australian Networked Public Sphere’, Social Science Computer Review, August 2011, Vol 29, no 3, 277-287

http://ssc.sagepub.com.ezproxy-m.deakin.edu.au/content/29/3/277

Castells, Manuel 2008, “The New Public Sphere: Global Civil Society, Communication Networks, and Global Governance’, The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 616:78, March 2008 http://prtheories.pbworks.com/w/file/fetch/45138545/Castells_2008_The_New_Public_Sphere.pdf  retrieved 28/8/2013

Jericho, Greg 2012, The Rise of the Fifth Estate: social media and blogging in Australian politics, Scribe Publications, Brunswick Vic, Australia.

http://reader.eblib.com.au.ezproxy-f.deakin.edu.au/(S(xxq22u5r2twjpjrxe0pml30v))/Reader.aspx?p=1020873&o=154&u=XZi7W1iv2hK5FxAI8BGPcQ%3d%3d&t=1377662258&h=0C6EA8DE471011324FDBFF7FF5F22ACC2237091A&s=9730359&ut=484&pg=1&r=img&c=-1&pat=n retrieved 28/8/2013

Steel, John 2012, Journalism and Free Speech, Taylor and Francis, NY

http://reader.eblib.com.au.ezproxy-m.deakin.edu.au/(S(dsxyqkr5qmdl4isav3zio0h3))/Reader.aspx?p=958660&o=154&u=XZi7W1iv2hK5FxAI8BGPcQ%3d%3d&t=1377924821&h=FD58F03C08D867CA82533AB28DB077E59C7F627A&s=9774698&ut=484&pg=1&r=img&c=-1&pat=n#

http://www.theage.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/grattan-quits-age-with-call-for-diversity-20130204-2dtph.html  retrieved 1 September 2013

http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.2307/487737?uid=3737536&uid=2129&uid=2&uid=70&uid=4&sid=21102570956441