Introduction:

According to first amendment of the American constitution as an official text for establishment of the first liberal democracy in the world, freedom of speech and freedom of press is guaranteed to ensure the people’s ability to criticize the government’s decisions to make them more conform to the public interests. United States of America since its beginning days, was planned to be a capitalist country where in most of the activities are to be capital intensive. In such a society all the activities are supposed to be productive and there is no exceptions even regarding to the literary or academic works that are assumed to be in favor of the national interests. In this space , because of the liberal democratic system, people play very influential role in the direction that system choose, so investigation upon the public opinion is very important in a democratic society. Media, in any forms of it, play as a powerful force to form the public opinion. Here, the important point is the relationship between media owners and decision makers of the country who define the major policies of the country. Who are the media owners? Who are behind the scene of politics in leading the country? Which of them are more influential in shaping the public opinion? These are the question to be considered.

Although public opinion might be much more famous rather that public sphere among the ordinary discussions in modern societies , public sphere is a rather philosophical term for explaining the relationship between society and state or on the other hand public and private. According to Habermas theory, public sphere is a realm that emerged in a specific phase of ‘bourgeois society’. It is a space that mediates between society and the state where the public organizes itself and that ‘public opinion is formed (Barker, 205). Within this space, media play important roles depending on the historical time those media might be newspapers and journals or satellite channels and internet websites. The question of my paper is how media that are belonged to the capital owners in a capitalist country of United States of America affect the public sphere and form the public opinion? Whether there could be still a public sphere and an ‘ideal speech situation’ for critical debate about the politics in U.S. or not? By a historical look at the American media and their owners, the answer to that question would be considered.

Public sphere

The concept of Public Sphere was first introduced by Jürgen Habermas, in his book, ‘The Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere - An Inquiry into a Category of Bourgeois Society’. He historically traced this notion as a realm that emerged in a specific phase of ‘bourgeois society’. It is a space that mediates between society and the state where the public organizes itself and that ‘public opinion is formed. Jürgen Habermas defines the public sphere as “a network for communicating information and points of view” which eventually transforms them into a public opinion (1).

For Habermas, our very ability to make truth claims is dependent on a democratically organized public sphere which approximates an ‘ideal speech situation’. Habermas describes the rise of literary clubs and salons, newspapers, political journals and institutions of political debate and participation in the eighteenth century. (Barker, 205)

Changes in the societal situation and economic relations and political system, created new places in response to the new needs of the society for artistic, literary debates which finally led to economical and political discussion. Such places appeared mostly in Britain and France as two birth places of the bourgeois in 18th century.

The coffee houses in London society at this time became the centers of art and literary criticism, which gradually widened to include even the economic and the political disputes as matters of discussion. In French salons, as Habermas says, “opinion became emancipated from the bonds of economic dependence”. (1) The most important feature of the public sphere as it existed in the eighteenth century was the public use of reason in rational-critical debate (3).

The 18th century liberal democracies supported the public sphere in making resources available to the new political class to establish a network of institutions like publishing enterprises, newspapers and discussion forums. Other key institutions were literary journals, periodicals, and the coffee houses and salons where these publications were discussed. In this space, a democratic press was a main tool to execute this (1).

In this sense, the public sphere denotes specific institutions, agencies, practices; Understood in this sense, the public sphere is a matter for a handful of professionals (e.g., politicians, editors, union officials) on the one hand, but, on the other, it is something that concerns everyone and that realizes itself only in people’s minds, in a dimension of their consciousness.” (Negt and Kluge, 1993) (1).

Separation from the power of both the church and the government due to its access to a variety of resources, both economic and social was the key feature of this public sphere. It was partially protected from both the church and the state by resources of private individuals. It was in principle, though not in practice, open to all. Within this sphere individuals were able to develop themselves and engage in rational debate about the direction of society (Barker, 206).

This arena is conceptually distinct from the state; it is a site for production and circulation of discourses that can in principle be critical of the state. The public sphere in Habermas’ sense is also conceptually distinct from the official economy; it is not an arena of market relations but rather one of discursive relations, a theatre for debating and deliberating rather than for buying and selling. In this arena state activities would be subject to critical scrutiny and the force of public opinion (Fraser, 520).

For Habermas (1989), the public sphere is a realm constituted as:

A space that mediates between civil society and the state

A place where the public organizes itself

An arena in which ‘public opinion’ is formed (Barker, 415).

Public opinion is formed with the help of institutions like the media, publicly accessible courts, elections, etc. The main concern of Habermas is to ensure “undistorted communication’ as he identifies it as a critical tool for human emancipation. He says that the ideal speech situation has four validity claims; comprehensibility, truth, appropriateness and sincerity, and claims to these have a social context in which they have to be justified. (1)

Habermas goes on to document the decline of the public sphere. This has happened as a consequence of the development of capitalism towards monopoly and strengthening of the state. For example, the increased comodification of everyday life by giant corporations transforms people from rational citizens to consumers. In a parallel erosion of the public sphere, the state has taken increased power over our lives (Barker, 206).

Contrary to Habermas, Thompson has (1995) suggested that the modern media have actually expanded the public sphere (Barker, 206).

Habermas claims the soil that nourished the liberal public sphere was ‘civil society’, the emerging new congeries of voluntary associations that sprung up in what came to be known as ‘the age of societies’ (Fraser, 522).

The modern means of mass communication through their transnational agents has brought the range of the Public Sphere to the international arena. For the modern media corporations like the BBC, and CNN, issues range from the most local culture specific contexts to the global political arena transcending the national boundaries. The 50 year-old current affairs magazine programme, Panorama on BBC one, gives evidence that public need not be seen as mere consumers.

But the role of these corporations in the modern democratic government in maintaining the Public Sphere in its true spirit is debatable because of the obvious political and economic stakes of those behind them. The Kilroy epitomizes perfectly the public sphere. According to Dahlgren, affective communication is more influential in spearheading popular culture and the television, as a medium, uses both cognitive and affective elements of communication. Hartley believes that media is public and is an effective public domain. But media in the modern days is another weapon of the ideology for its propagandist interventions, and in order to restore the autonomy of the media, both in an economic and cultural sense, and ensure rationality rather than power to operate, democratic processes have to be revitalized in both political and cultural spheres. (1)

One of Habermas’s criticisms of the modern state is the decline of rational, meaningful argument. . The key feature of the public sphere - rational-critical debate - was replaced by leisure, and private people no longer existed as a public of property owners (4).

The public sphere takes on a feudal aspect again, as politicians and organizations represent themselves before the voters. Public opinion is now manipulative, and, more rarely, still critical. We still need a strong public sphere to check domination by the state and non-governmental organizations. (3)

American Media

By considering the history of American media, the way of formation of media in United States and its effects in shaping the American public sphere would be explored.

The term ‘Media’ may include any form of communication by which people are informed and entertained. In the US it refers to the print media (newspapers, books and magazines), the broadcasting media (television and radio) and electronic media such as the Internet. Some of these forms have also become profitable parts of the film, video and computer industries as multi-media corporations have been established (Mauk & Okland, 270).

The media have their own audiences from different social classes that are varied in cultural, social, economical and symbolic capitals. Nevertheless the important point is that all the media in any forms of it are attended by some parts of the people. For example, it is estimated that the average full-time worker is exposed at home and at work to various forms of the media for some nine hours a day (Mauk & Okland, 270). So there is no doubt that the public mind is affected by the information waves from media. The media may influence public opinion and partially shape attitudes by declining what is newsworthy.

By shaping the public opinion, the power relations would be formed and access to power might be gained through media sources. In a democratic system that the power at least appeared to be transferred through the election, politicians use the media to influence voters’ mind in a process of public opinion formation, to win the election (Mauk & Okland, 270). In this regard, media that are assumed to be a major force in public sphere and a channel for imposing the public will to the decision makers play an important role in the direction that the public sphere lie in.

On the other hand, in market, companies use the media to encourage consumers to purchase their products through national and local advertising. It makes the media rank (1999) as the country’s third largest industry in terms of advertising revenue.

By looking at the history of the media in the United States, it would be clarified that media owners since its beginning days were the wealthy individuals and land owners who were also the influential figures in political system, either for voting or for being candidates.

Books and newspapers were the first media to emerge in early American history due to a public need for news, education and information. Presses and the print media were controlled politically by the British colonial authorities through a licensing system. The licensing system was a system for censorship and controlling the public sphere that was in its first days of its life. Despite of these controls, American newspapers were crucial in War for Independence against the Britain colonialism. In this period public sphere to a large extent was realized by newspapers.

Newspapers developed quickly in the eighteenth century. The first, relatively comprehensive newspaper, the Franklins’ New England Courant, was published in Boston in 1721. Andrew Bradford’s American Magazine was the first magazine, appearing shortly before Benjamin Franklin’s General Magazine (January 1741) (Mauk & Okland, 271).

Newspapers gained the protection of the First Amendment of the Bill of Rights in 1791, which guaranteed freedom of the press. Americans were aware that some papers had supported them against the British before and during the War for Independence. By the mid-nineteenth century, the print media became even more influential as social and cultural forces (Mauk & Okland, 272). During this time, there was a strong demand for novels, which sold in large numbers and many were written and read by women that formed a feminist public sphere in beauty salons and might be in kitchens.

Newspapers were mostly owned and edited by powerful and influential individuals who were personally involved in their papers. James Gordon Bennett founded the first modern American newspaper, the New York Herald, in 1835. Bennett was fallowed by Horace Greeley with his New York Tribune (1841), and by Henry Raymond, who published the New York Times (1851). (Mauk & Okland, 272)

By the end of the nineteenth century, Joseph Pulitzer and William Randolph Hearst, with the World (1887) and the Journal (1895), respectively dominated US newspapers. Joseph Patterson printed the New York Daily News in 1919 (the first modern tabloid) and Robert R. McCormick published the Chicago Tribune from 1910 (Mauk & Okland, 273). Although at this time, newspapers were mostly in the hands of powerful wealthy individuals who look for more and more power, the public sphere was not that much distorted and still some critical discussions occurred there.

Progresses in communication technologies change the importance of the print media such as newspapers and novels by emerging the new media. In this way, the main players in public sphere changed. The print media were challenged first by Hollywood’s silent films and later by sound motion pictures, which became the dominant entertainment sources of the 1920s and 1930s and an alternative attraction for audiences. These media forms also had to compete with radio broadcasting in the 1920s.

Commercial television was introduced at the New York World’s Fair in 1939, but World War II hindered its progress. After the war television began to dominate the other broadcast and print media. (Mauk & Okland, 274)

Interestingly, in some cases, seeking powers by the media owners and by the politicians from both of Democratic and Republican Party through the media and mostly newspapers, made the American public sphere, more active to pursue their party interests in cover of public. They have published official secrets; revealed classified documents; and exposed corrupt practices, unethical behavior and injustices in American life. This has led to tension between the media and public authorities (Mauk & Okland, 274).

The Washington Post and New York Times published the ‘Pentagon Papers’ in 1971. The Washington Post also famously investigated and disclosed the Watergate scandal (result in resignation of President Nixon). The media revealed the facts of the My Lai massacre in Vietnam and the later Iran-Contra affair (Mauk & Okland, 275). Although these activities might be interpreted as looking for power in the opposite party’s corrupt jobs to occupy the presidency or seats of the congress and gaining more power that would led to more wealth in a dialectical circle, at the end of the day, decision is made by the public who is influenced by the media, in this sense what is wrong is that the figures who are behind the media mostly try to exaggerate the events and their effects to change the reality of the event to win the hearts and minds of the audiences. Therefore, news media are accused of bias, distorted journalism, invasion of privacy, manipulating events and with actively trying to shape public opinion by setting particular agendas(Mauk & Okland, 275).

It is noteworthy to consider the number of the American media and circulations of the newspapers in the United States of America to see how much public opinion are under influence of the public media.

In 2000, some 1,483 daily newspapers (mornings and evenings during the week) were published in the US, with a circulation of 56 million. There were also some 905 Saturday and Sunday papers with a circulation of 60 million. In addition there are about 7,000 weekly, semi-weekly and monthly local newspapers (Mauk & Okland, 276). In fact most newspapers, radio networks and television companies worldwide now obtain their news directly from two US-based news agencies:

Associated Press (AP) and United Press International (UPI). This means that a few news sources dominate in the US market and result in comparatively homogeneous international and national news (Mauk & Okland, 277). So by controlling these two news sources that could be seen as two power sources, the public opinion would be shaped and the chosen direction of the country that emerges through elections would be predicted.

Advertising is a large and profitable industry and its connection with the media is controversial because of its alleged influence. So the media that its main duty is to spread right information in the society to make it more conscious about their future and current situation, tied with the economic issues that allows everything to gain more profits.

On the other hand, all radio and television stations must be licensed to broadcast by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). This is an independent federal agency, financed by Congress, whose members are appointed by the President. It controls the stations by granting limited-period licensed to applicants and has a supervisory and regulatory role (Mauk & Okland, 280). The FCC, with its licensing power, does regulate media ownership by ensuring that there are no monopolies and that a variety of services and program are provided throughout the country (Mauk & Okland, 281).

In 1999 some 98 per cent of American homes had at least one television set which may be watched for an average four hours a day. Surveys suggest that television is the most important (if mistrusted) source of news for most Americans (Mauk & Okland, 281).

In 1999 there were 1,520 television stations, which vary in size and have separate identities and characteristics. Some 350 were non-commercial and 1,170 were commercial stations.

The Big Four are the American Broadcasting Company (ABC: 1943), the National Broadcasting Company (NBC: 1926), THE Columbia Broadcasting Service (CBS: 1928), AND Fox Broadcasting Company (1986) (Mauk & Okland, 281). It shows the concentration of the media in United States in hands of elites of the society that are mostly political and economical elites not intellectual, that put the public sphere in danger of distortion from its real task and deviation toward the power owner’s targets to guarantee their subject position in the power structure of the system.

Conclusion

By defining the public sphere, according to Habermas definition, as a space that mediates between society and the state where the public organizes itself and that ‘public opinion’ is formed, a realm that for Habermas (1989), constituted as a space that mediates between civil society and the state and a place where the public organizes itself. Organization of public must be free from power relations, because the key feature of the public sphere is rational-critical debate to be able to scrutinize critically the state and other power sources acts. In this way, separation from the power of both the church and the government have been crucial for public sphere to be distinct from the state, distinct from the official economy and involved in discourses that can in principle be critical of the state. In this regard the the role of media and also the media owners will be more highlighted.

The media that based on a idealist definition must be value free to look for the truth in a neutral situation in power relations, have got very influential role in public opinion.

When all the media from news agencies and newspapers to satellite channels and Hollywood movies and eventually virtual space are under the domination of the interlinked economical and political elites in American society, its not a unreal claim to say that public sphere in American society have changed to a field for seeking power by working on people’s mind through the broadcasting and spreading information in special channels.

In this conditions, the ideal speech situation that Habermas believes has four validity claims; comprehensibility, truth, appropriateness and sincerity, would be completely distorted and decline to a battle ground to fight for more and more power.

In this way, Habermas documents the decline of the public sphere in capitalist societies and mostly in USA and claims that in a parallel erosion of the public sphere, the state has taken and would take increased power over our lives. By the state, he means the economical corporation that are concentrated in the hands of elites. Therefore, there would be no critical scrutiny in media activities, and if they criticize some policies of for example president or dominant party in congress, it is because of profitability of that job, not looking for truth and giving people consciousness. We can trustfully say that media in the modern days is another weapon of the ideology for its propagandist interventions, and in order to restore the autonomy of the media, both in an economic and cultural sense, and ensure rationality rather than power to operate, democratic processes have to be revitalized in both political and cultural spheres.

References:
1) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Structural_Transformation_of_the_Public_Sphere
2) http://www.sparknotes.com/philosophy/public/summary.html
3) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concentration of media ownership

Barker, Chris (2003), ‘Cultural Studies, Theory and Practice’, London, SAGE Publication.

Mauk D. & Oakland J. (1995) ‘American civilization; an introduction’, London and New York, Routledge .

Fraser N. (1993) ‘Rethinking the public sphere’ in ‘The cultural studies, Reader’ edited by Simon During pp 518-536, London and New York, Routledge .

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Indian real estate industry that was hit during Shraadh awaits Diwali, to gear up the demand. Banks, at the other end, have also cut down their interest rates on home loans and real estate developers in India are hoping for a good time. With a view to cash on the festive spirit, developers have also been coming up with attractive schemes to let people buy their properties. Besides, some have planned to launch their projects around Diwali days, to time their entry in the markets during this favorable part of the year.

Take Amarpali developers for instance. The company will be launching their township ‘Hi-Tech City’ in Jaipur and ‘Modern Township’ in Indore, this Diwali. Delhi-based construction group BPTP has come up with a special offer for the potential buyers in Parkland Faridabad, in which one has to book during the festival period and their EMI’s will start after 2-years.

Triveni infrastructure Development Company Ltd has tied up with leading financial institutions, offering easy loans and flexible payment plans to the buyers. In fact, a real estate company in New Delhi has reportedly been offering Maruti SX4 to the clients who would purchase an apartment unit from them in a particular time period. Anuj Shah, a Delhi based broker said, “the main attraction for most of the people is the easy home loans on offer and plus the fact that builders are willing to bargain prices, and offer relief in other fees, and charges, property sales can pick up in the Diwali period.”

Another Delhi broker, Deepak Jain, commented on the profile of the enquiries and said, “We have been receiving a number of enquiries from the segment of ‘working-class’ intending to reap the benefits of Diwali schemes”.

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UK motorists thinking about driving their cars abroad should exercise caution before driving off. Such is the assertion of Sainsbury’s Car Insurance which reports that unless drivers take steps to ensure that they have adequate insurance cover before going on a foreign driving holiday then they could be faced with costly repair bills. According to the company, just under a fifth (17 per cent) of holidaymakers are planning on taking their car abroad during the next year. Overall, France was highlighted as being the most popular destination for an overseas driving holiday, with some 4.58 million drivers planning to take their cars to the European country over the next year. However, 1.89 million are set to visit Ireland, with 1.7 million going on a trip to Germany. Spain, Italy and Belgium were also considered to be sought-after locations for motorists.

Also, it would appear that people are looking towards a comprehensive journey, with about 50 per cent of all those going abroad predicting they will drive for more than 1,000 miles while away, meanwhile 19 per cent are predicting to drive between 501 and 1,000 miles.

However, prior to hitting the road for Paris, Rome, Berlin or any other Destination in Europe, Sainsbury’s Car Insurance not only advised motorists to get fully comprehensive car insurance but also to get in contact with their provider to advise them of their holiday driving plans before they leave. It would appear that although many insurers provide cover for driving on the continent, policyholders are required to notify them that they are going to do this. If this is not done, Sainsbury’s said drivers may well see their cover downgraded to only incorporate third party, fire and theft.

For those people who fail to ensure that they have adequate insurance cover whilst on their holiday abroad it may be possible they have to dip into their own pockets in order to meet the cost of vehicle repairs following a breakdown, accident or theft. This could easily impact on their ability to manage loans, credit cards and mortgage repayments upon their return to Britain.

To lower their chances of getting into difficulties whilst abroad, the company urged motorists to plan their route carefully and to check the motoring laws for the countries that they will be going through. Additionally, checking tyre pressure and brake fluid levels before departing was also recommended.

Joanne Mallon, in charge of car insurance for Sainsbury’s, reported: “When going on holiday, most people will remember to take travel insurance but we are concerned that some motorists are overlooking the need to ensure that their car journey is fully covered. Having an accident anywhere is bad enough but when abroad it can be compounded by a lack of local knowledge; to then find that the other party’s damage is covered, but not your own, is surely a blow worth avoiding.”

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Around 81 billion pounds is spent on holidays each year by British people, new research suggests. A study carried out by Abbey - part of the Spain-based Santander group - found that average Britons spend an amount equivalent to 10.1 per cent of their net income on sojourns each year.

And this figure equates to around 1,650 pounds per person for holidays over the course of a year, the study found. While some people raid their savings to pay for their breaks, others may choose to opt for a low cost loan to help cover the cost of a trip overseas. The survey found that some 50.4 billion pounds is taken from savings accounts to pay for holidays - meaning that other forms of cash make up the remaining 30 billion pounds.

“If people cut back a small proportion of the amount they spent on holidays and kept their savings, this would make a real difference to their financial wellbeing. With savings rates at excellent levels, there has never been a better time to save for the future,” said Reza Attar- Zadeh, director of savings and investments at the firm.

But people may consider other options that will not affect their savings if they wish to go on a holiday. Choosing to take out a low cost loan to pay for a trip away may be an effective way of paying for a holiday without having a large expense leave an account at once. With loan repayments being made monthly, the costs could be spread more evenly over a number of months.

In related news, Abbey earlier this month revealed that homeowners wishing to make some money could do so by renting out their back rooms to lodgers. The organisation noted that there are around 18.2 million homeowners have at least one currently uninhabited room in their house and could be making money by letting out a spare room to a lodger. Taking such a step could yield returns of more than 3,500 pounds each year, the company claimed.

Apparently, there are currently some 388,000 adults renting out a room in their home. Over the course of a year, these individuals are earning in excess of 1.1 billion pounds from their spare space. But before taking this course of action, it is worth checking with a mortgage provider, Abbey notes, as although there is unlikely to be any problems over payments, any changes to circumstances could have an effect.

Last month, it was noted by moneysupermarket that individuals about to head off on their holidays should be sure to take out a relevant travel insurance policy, particularly if active pursuits, such as white-water rafting, bungee jumping or skiing off-piste, are likely to be followed. Taking part in such sports presents the average holidaymaker - including those who may have used cheap loans to help them cover the cost of their break - with a greater level of risk to their health and safety and therefore adequate travel insurance cover should be taken out, the organisation suggested.

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