The internet is the single most important technological breakthrough of the latter part of this century, and it has changed the way in which people communicate and access mass media and even the way they comment on social and political issues. However there are many questions being asked as to how social platforms such as facebook, twitter, chatrooms and discussion boards can fulfil the conditions of a public sphere for rational debate. The internet is now the biggest global arena where people go to express their views and opinions to people worldwide who share the same interests as them and are in the same public sphere. The rise of mass media in the latter part of this century has changed the original theory of the public sphere. Habermas’
He argues that the world of mass media is cheap and powerful so it is in the modern day the most powerful source for finding out about the news In the world. It attempts to create a public where none exists, this is particularly evident in modern politics with the rise of advertisement and public relations. Due to the rise of the internet and the many social media platforms that broadcast news it has resulted in the the de-localising of politics. The political news people have access to in the modern day is often very irrelevant to their social standing and come from places that are often very far away from the area they would be concerned about. Often such political debates are like a performance as the political leaders as a lot of attention is paid to their personalities and how they act. In order for people to succeed in such role in the modern day it is vital that they are likeable and appeal to the public. The rise in popularity of television has created the need for a lot of money to be invested into politics. As the internet and television take over the public sphere it is almost impossible to distinguish between what is genuine and what is staged to appeal to the audience that will be watching. Today the conversations we see on television and online is administered and scripted. It is not very often that you would witness a political debate in the modern day that was entirely
There are now many different alternatives to the traditional public sphere in which Habermas originally based his theory around. In the modern day the internet is the most powerful source of news as a source of representative publicity. When we go on the internet we are not only shown the things we want to see but are bombarded by multiple different sources. In todays society everyone is a journalist or a photographer and people get their news from many unreliable sources. People believe anything they see if it is from someone they trust and listen to such as a friend or relative. The internet for the most part, is open for all people. It is not a place where people can be excluded as result of their ethnicity, gender, age etc. Unlike Habermas’ original theory that the public sphere is a place where private individuals come together to have critical-rational debates it is now open for all people of all levels of education and social backgrounds to discuss relevant social and political topics. The internet has changed how people partake in politics and debate. the social sphere that once existed is no longer the same as due to the internet, there is a is a lacking in a sense of community. The internet can be describes as a network of communications linking together countless computer networks through private and public phone lines. The entire network is run and controlled by Government agencies and commercial