Tönnies and Habermas: The Telos of Community, Public Opinion, and the Public Sphere

1991 ◽  
pp. 419-438 ◽  
Author(s):  
Perry H. Howard
Keyword(s):  
Public Opinion ◽  
Public Sphere ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Public Sphere

Public Opinion and the Public Sphere

2018 ◽  
pp. 29-41
Author(s):  
Gordon Graham
Keyword(s):  
Public Opinion ◽  
Public Sphere ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Public Sphere

Editorial Journalism and Newspapers’ Editorial Opinions

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julie Firmstone
Keyword(s):  
Public Opinion ◽  
Public Sphere ◽  
Political Communication ◽  
News Media ◽  
Political Process ◽  
Physical Geography ◽  
Political Debate ◽  
The Public ◽  
Advocacy Journalism ◽  
The Public Sphere

Editorial journalism and newspapers’ editorial opinions represent an area of research that can make an important contribution to our understanding of the relationship between the press and politics. Editorials are a distinctive format and are the only place in a newspaper where the opinions of a paper as an organization are explicitly represented. Newspapers and the journalists who write editorials play a powerful role in constructing political debate in the public sphere. They use their editorial voice to attempt to influence politics either indirectly, through reaching public opinion, or directly, by targeting politicians. Editorial journalism is at its most persuasive during elections, when newspapers traditionally declare support for candidates and political parties. Despite the potential of editorial opinions to influence democratic debate, and controversy over the way newspapers and their proprietors use editorials to intervene in politics, editorial journalism is under-researched. Our understanding of the significance of this distinctive form of journalism can be better understood by exploring four key themes. First, asking “What is editorial journalism?” establishes the context of editorial journalism as a unique practice with opinion-leading intentions. Several characteristics of editorial journalism distinguish it from other formats and genres. Editorials (also known as leading articles) require a distinctive style and form of expression, occupy a special place in the physical geography of a newspaper, represent the collective institutional voice of a newspaper rather than that of an individual, have no bylines in the majority of countries, and are written with differing aims and motivations to news reports. The historical development of journalism explains the status of editorials as a distinctive form of journalism. Professional ideals and practices evolved to demand objectivity in news reporting and the separation of fact from opinion. Historically, editorial and advocacy journalism share an ethos for journalism that endeavors to effect social or political change, yet editorial journalism is distinctive from other advocacy journalism practices in significant ways. Editorials are also an integral part of the campaign journalism practiced by some newspapers. Second, research and approaches in the field of political communication have attributed a particularly powerful role to editorial journalism. Rooted in the effects tradition, researchers have attributed an important role to editorials in informing and shaping debate in the public sphere in four ways: (1) as an influence on readers, voters, and/or public opinion; (2) as an influence on the internal news agendas and coverage of newspapers; (3) as an influence on the agendas and coverage in other news media; and (4) as an influence on political or policy agendas. Theorizing newspapers as active and independent political actors in the political process further underpins the need to research editorial journalism. Third, editorial journalism has been overlooked by sociological studies of journalism practices. Research provides a limited understanding of the routines and practices of editorial journalists and the organization of editorial opinion at newspapers. Although rare, studies focusing on editorial journalism show that editorial opinion does not simply reflect the influence of proprietors, as has often been assumed. Rather, editorial opinions are shaped by a complex range of factors. Finally, existing research trajectories and current developments point to new challenges and opportunities for editorial journalism. These challenges relate to how professional norms respond to age-old questions about objectivity, bias, and partisanship in the digital age.

Shaping Public Opinion and Community Mobilisation: The Role of Urdu Language Media in India

2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 216-257
Author(s):  
Fahad Hashmi
Keyword(s):  
Public Opinion ◽  
Public Sphere ◽  
Final Section ◽  
Community Mobilisation ◽  
Daily Newspaper ◽  
The Public ◽  
Democratic Practice ◽  
Indian State ◽  
The Public Sphere

Considering the role played by Rashtria Sahara, an Urdu daily newspaper that took recourse to the democratic practice of questioning and challenging the hegemonic formation of the maligned image of Islam and the faith community vis-à-vis terrorism in the discursive arena, that is, the public sphere, this article tries to understand the role of the Urdu language media in shaping the public opinion and mobilising people from within the community. To this end, first, the article seeks to comprehend the present configuration of the Indian public sphere keeping in view its colonial origin. Moreover, the ‘othering’ of Muslims in postcolonial India that has colonial roots, too, has been understood through the idea of ‘interior frontiers’. Second, the role and practices of the Indian state towards Muslims have been taken into account. And, the final section analyses strategies that were put to use by the newspaper to contest the hegemonic formation, which paved the way for social movement to emerge.

scholarly journals Can online exemplars trigger a spiral of silence? Examining the effects of exemplar opinions on perceptions of public opinion and speaking out

2016 ◽  
Vol 19 (7) ◽  
pp. 1034-1051 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas Zerback ◽  
Nayla Fawzi
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Public Opinion ◽  
Public Sphere ◽  
Public Support ◽  
Spiral Of Silence ◽  
The Public ◽  
Speaking Out ◽  
Modern Media ◽  
Media Environments ◽  
The Public Sphere

In modern media environments, social media have fundamentally altered the way how individual opinions find their way into the public sphere. We link spiral of silence theory to exemplification research and investigate the effects of online opinions on peoples’ perceptions of public opinion and willingness to speak out. In an experiment, we can show that a relatively low number of online exemplars considerably influence perceived public support for the eviction of violent immigrants. Moreover, supporters of eviction were less willing to speak out on the issue online and offline when confronted with exemplars contradicting their opinion.

Architecture, Space, and Abstraction in the Eighteenth-Century French Public Sphere

2008 ◽  
Vol 102 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-26 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard Wittman
Keyword(s):  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
Public Opinion ◽  
Public Sphere ◽  
General Will ◽  
Spatial Experience ◽  
The Public ◽  
Spatial Dimensions ◽  
The Public Sphere

This essay investigates the spatial dimensions of the eighteenth-century transformation of the public sphere through the lens of contemporary French architectural culture. It analyzes not only how architecture was translated into discursive forms so as to maintain its publicity within a spatially exploded, informational public sphere but also how the concreteness of architecture and real spatial experience was sometimes appropriated in order to render the abstractions consecrated by this public sphere——like public opinion and the general will——less nebulous.

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