scholarly journals David Stafford-Clark (1916-1999): Seeing through a celebrity psychiatrist

2017 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
pp. 30
Author(s):  
Gavin Miller
Keyword(s):  
Mass Media ◽  
Cultural Authority ◽  
The Public ◽  
Celebrity Status ◽  
The Mass Media ◽  
Cultural Intermediaries ◽  
The Public Sphere ◽  
Post War ◽  
Intellectual Integrity

This article uses the mass-media career of the British psychiatrist David Stafford-Clark (1916-1999) as a case study in the exercise of cultural authority by celebrity medical professionals in post-war Britain. Stafford-Clark rose to prominence in the mass media, particularly through his presenting work on medical and related topics for BBC TV and Radio, and was in the vanguard of psychiatrists and physicians who eroded professional edicts on anonymity. At the height of his career, he traded upon his celebrity status, and consequent cultural authority, to deliver mass media sermons on a variety of social, cultural, and political topics. Stafford-Clark tried to preserve his sense of personal and intellectual integrity by clinging to a belief that his authority in the public sphere was ultimately to be vindicated by his literary, intellectual, and spiritual significance. But as his credibility dwindled, he came to distrust the cultural intermediaries, such as broadcasters and publishers, who had supported him.

scholarly journals Fulfilling the journalistic principles of truth and objectivity in the context of mediatisation of political communication – the terrorist attacks in Paris in November 2015

2017 ◽  
Vol 43 (5) ◽  
Author(s):  
Rafał Leśniczak
Keyword(s):  
Mass Media ◽  
Political Communication ◽  
Time Frame ◽  
Political Life ◽  
Political Actors ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Mass Media ◽  
The Public Sphere ◽  
The Times

The mediatisation of political communication indicates two main functions of the mass media: they report on events from the world of politics and create the images of political actors in the eyes of the public. I attempt to answer the question: can one talk about respecting the basic principles of journalistic ethics (the truth and the objectivity principles) in the times of the mediatisation of the public sphere? The theme of the article applies to terrorism, which is a form of political communication, having its own special expression. The activities of terrorist organisations influence the actions of the leaders of political life, citizens and the mass media. The research material consisted of Polish opinion-making weeklies Newsweek Polska and Polityka and national dailies in their printed versions: Gazeta Wyborcza and Rzeczpospolita. The time frame covered a period from 1 November 2015 to 11 December 2015. The topic of the article was treated as a case study.

Chewing the Communal Cud

2011 ◽  
pp. 296-318 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jane Mummery ◽  
Debbie Rodan
Keyword(s):  
Mass Media ◽  
Public Sphere ◽  
Necessary Conditions ◽  
Market Demand ◽  
Public Concern ◽  
Letters To The Editor ◽  
Political Blogs ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Mass Media ◽  
The Public Sphere

Contending that media users are more than consumers and that the mass media are able to achieve more in the public sphere than simply meet market demand, Mummery and Rodan argue in this chapter that some types of mass media may in fact fulfil public sphere responsibilities. The authors demonstrate how forums such as broadsheet letters to the editor and online political blogs—despite their commonly recognised limitations due to influence by private/commercial ownership, editorship, and the requirements of authorship—may exemplify, enable and support community deliberation over issues of public concern. More specifically, via engaging with Jürgen Habermas’ conceptions of the necessary conditions for rational and communal deliberation, and critically examining recent debates in these forums, the authors argue both that these mediated forums can enable and exemplify community deliberation and, more generally, that community deliberation itself does not need to be strictly consensus-oriented to be productive.

Introduction

2018 ◽  
pp. 1-10
Author(s):  
Marina Dekavalla
Keyword(s):  
Mass Media ◽  
Public Sphere ◽  
Direct Democracy ◽  
Media Framing ◽  
The Public ◽  
Research Questions ◽  
The Mass Media ◽  
The Public Sphere

This chapter discusses the significance of referendum campaigns as an increasingly used form of direct democracy and explores the role of the mass media in determining how referendums are understood in the public sphere. It introduces the idea of media framing and sets out the research questions addressed in this book.

scholarly journals Airtime: the public sphere, the public screen, and AIDS activism in contemporary North America

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer Burwell
Keyword(s):  
Mass Media ◽  
Public Sphere ◽  
Social Space ◽  
Media Culture ◽  
Public And Private ◽  
The Public ◽  
Aids Activism ◽  
Private Citizens ◽  
The Mass Media ◽  
The Public Sphere

Through a complex web of technological innovations, social and political changes, and market forces over the last century, we have witnessed vast changes in the arrangement and environments of public and private space. Douglas Kellner observes that "a media culture has emerged in which images, sounds, and spectacles help produce the fabric of everyday life, dominating leisure time, shaping political views and social behavior, and providing the materials out of which people forge their very identities" (Media Culture, 1). The introduction of visual media such as television and personal computers, as well as the popularization of the internet over the last two decades, has brought about major shifts in our conception of the public sphere. Most notable is the transformation, outlined by Jurgen Habermas, from the bourgeois public sphere to a public sphere marked and shaped by mass media and spectacle. Ideally, Habermas' bourgeois public sphere is structured as a social space in which private citizens may assemble to discuss, debate, and come to consensus in order to mediate between the state and civil society. According to Habermas, however, this ideal has been brought to its demise largely because of the influence of the mass media. Habermas' ideal public sphere rests on notions of consensus brought about by rational debate which has been replaced by consumption and uncritical reception. He concludes that the "world fashioned by the mass media is a public sphere in appearance only" (Structural Transformation 171).

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