Internet as Public Sphere Arena: Analysis of the Visitors‘ Comments

Internet as a new form of communication emerged in the sixties (1969) when the idea of connecting computers into one network spread across the world. While accommodating and processing tremendous information flows Internet raised discussions whether the integration of many texts and voices into its space leads to anarchic or to democratic communication form. German philosopher J. Habermas laid the foundations for the Theory of Publicity’s Structural Transformation. When new communication forms emerged it was attempted to apply the model of ideal publicity to the Internet as a means of mass media which can restore the situation of the ideal language and the discussion among different layers of society. The relevance of the topic of this work is based on the attempt to analyze the properties of Internet and to attribute them to the public sphere. Now when it is considered that public spheres are disappearing from our lives it is very important to research the possibilities of Internet and its application to public interests of society. Object of this work – Internet as a public sphere arena. The main problem of this work – specificity of Internet, difficulty in meeting the conditions for the existence of public sphere model. The aim of this work – to uncover the specific features of Internet and its differences from traditional mass media, and to analyze how much Internet matches or does not match the ideal model of public sphere. The main tasks in this work: to analyze Internet in the context of J. Habermas’ theory of public sphere; to evaluate Internet as a public sphere arena; to generalize and present the features of Internet users’ behavior; to compare Internet to other means of mass media. The hypothesis: Internet meets the preconditions for the existence of the public sphere and stimulates rational discussions. The method of the research carried out: quantitative and qualitative content analysis. Building on the analysis of scientific resources it was concluded that Internet cannot meet all the conditions for the existence of public sphere described by J. Habermas because of its specificity. But contrary to the traditional mass media Internet provides society with the opportunity to freely express its opinions, to react to political events. The research carried out revealed that while discussing in the Internet portal Delfi participants do not start reasonable, rational discussion that would match the rational discussion and ideal language described by J. Habermas and this does not satisfy all the conditions for the existence of public sphere. The hypothesis was improved after analyzing discussion participants’ respect and attitude toward others’ opinions, respect toward politicians, furtherance of the discussion through questions and answers, striving to reach consensus and stimulation of action. This master’s degree paper may be interesting for the teachers and students in the field of communication