L'espace public (1962) de Jürgen Habermas est souvent lu comme le premier ouvrage de sa carrière. Notre mémoire tâche de porter un éclairage différent sur celui-ci, de lire L'espace public comme point d'aboutissement de la pensée habermassienne des années 1950. Par l'exploration d'un certain nombre d'écrits mineurs et majeurs pré-1962, L'espace public se révèle une sorte de théorie critique de la société, encore fortement empreinte de marxisme, faisant figure de synthèse partielle des écrits de jeunesse. / Jürgen Habermas' The structural transformation of the public sphere (1962) is often read as the first landmark of his career. Our study sets out to shed a different light upon it, to read The structural transformation of the public sphere as the arrival point of Habermas' 1950s thought. While we explore a certain number of minor and major pre-1962 works, his thesis reveals itself as some kind of critical theory of society, still deeply rooted in Marxism, that embodies a partial synthesis of his early works.

A qualitative study of the Swedish Instagram account Kvinnohat´s framing of media criticism. The Instagram account Kvinnohat is an example when citizens with a feminist agenda participate in a public debate. With a critical point of view Kvinnohat approach society; which media is a part of. Social network with photo-sharing implement such as Instagram is a quite new type of social media. Instagram has quickly become a part of many peoples everyday life, especially among adolescents. Kvinnohat allows guest admins to do personal photo-sharing from the account Kvinnohat so that different feminist users have an opportunity to express their opinions. We have analyzed how Kvinnohat use rhetorical strategies and frames to express their opinions about media. By analyzing the frames with help of Robert Entmans (2004) Cascading Activation Model the result of the study shows how Kvinnohat frame their content. The semiotic analysis reveals the visual rhetoric in the post and is a supplement for the rhetorical analysis in which the strategies appears. The result of the study showed that the attitude in Kvinnohat's media criticism is both negative and positive. Kvinnohat and like-minded followers are not only consuming media but also questioning the content and the media industry. The founders of Kvinnohat often recommend their followers a positive media content where the content shows a norm critical perspective. The negative critique practiced by Kvinnohat tend to inform and educate their audience of a problem. To strengthen a relationship between Kvinnohat and its followers, Kvinnohat tend to be personal in their posts by relating to their followers, and inspire them to interact.

This thesis analyzes the democratic deficit problem inherent in the European Union since the initial stages. In the study, the two dimensions of the problem is studied and within this context, the decision making procedures in the European Union, the functioning of the European Union institutions, the European Parliament elections are discussed in detail. Moreover, issues related to Europeanness and European identity are referred to and the improvements achieved by European Union concerning institutional structure and popular unity to overcome the democratic deficit are analyzed.

By means of a historical analysis of representations, this thesis argues that an increasing sexualisation of Indigenous personalities in popular culture contributes to the reconciliation of non-Indigenous and Indigenous Australia. It considers how sexualised images and narratives of Indigenous people, as they are produced across a range of film, television, advertising, sport and pornographic texts, are connected to a broader politics of liberty and justice in the present postmodern and postcolonial context. By addressing this objective the thesis will identify and evaluate the significance of 'banal' or everyday representations of Aboriginal sexuality, which may range from advertising images of kissing, television soap episodes of weddings, sultry film romances through to more evocatively oiled-up representations of the pinup- calendar variety. This project seeks to explore how such images offer possibilities for creating informal narratives of reconciliation, and engendering understandings of Aboriginality in the media beyond predominant academic concerns for exceptional or fatalistic versions.

This thesis interrogates my and others?? creative praxis using the tools of the Internet, webcam, blogging and digital video, to elucidate possibilities for communication. I examine whether these tools are productive for my creativity and others?? in increasing communicative spaces and building social networks amongst the complexities of globalised culture. Many cultural commentators consider the Internet as a new kind of public sphere, developing community, strengthening the lifeworld and providing ethical discourse. The Internet, however, is a context not without problems. Still, less that one quarter of the world??s population has access, and computer illiteracy and governance (to name only a few) contribute to its limitations ?? this dichotomy is central to my investigation. I demonstrate that information communication technologies (ICTs) such as the Internet are radically altering our everyday lives and mediation is increasingly pervasive. I argue, therefore, that our globalised context demands alternative communicative spaces to mainstream media that allow diversity, plurality, intersubjectivity and new forms of interrogation. I ask whether the Internet can assist in the development of social networks and newest social movements (NSMs) by increasing civic bonds and communities. I posit communicative action, reflexivity and praxis as productive tools for a critical practice. I suggest that these theories are influential in researching the Internet??s potential in generating social awareness. I argue that the Internet can be used to construct social spaces and, in conjunction with creativity, can increase its productive capacity in developing diverse and ethical communicative contexts.

This thesis investigates the potential for radio on the Internet to enhance processes of communication and media practice in the form of new a public sphere. Drawing on the work of Marshall McLuhan, the early stages of this thesis present an enquiry into the unique positive qualities of both radio and the Internet. The argument that follows contends that radio presented on the Internet can draw from the perceived technological benefits of each individual medium, combining as a potential site for public spheres. Both Habermas’s liberal public sphere and contemporary critiques of the concept are examined to define a range of principles that could be tested against relevant examples. The increasing commercialisation of the Internet is presented as a challenge to the normative ideals of a public sphere and counter-balances the optimism of a technologically determinist approach. A series of thematic codes are developed from the relevant theory and combined with qualitative interviews. This forms the framework for a thematic analysis of three individual case studies: Unwelcome Guests, an anti-corporate radio programme, SW Radio Africa, “the independent voice of Zimbabwe,” and NH Making Waves, the radio arm of a community peace activist group. The study investigates opportunities for these three individual case studies to act as public spheres, by examining the interplay that occurs between both Internet and radio practices. As the thematic analysis will demonstrate, placing radio content on the Internet presents new opportunities to diversify content and audiences through collaborative production and improved distribution. Recommendations for further research emphasise the need to pursue the Internet’s role in the public sphere potential of radio.

Thesis (M.A.)--Miami University, Dept. of Communication, 2008. / Title from first page of PDF document. Includes bibliographical references (p. 104-108).

Invention révolutionnaire, le musée d'art ouvert au public est une institution qui offre un espace contradictoire, cela à plusieurs niveaux : dans les origines conflictuelles du musée, dans la validation de ses relations avec un pouvoir institutionnalisé, dans la conceptualisation de sa dimension publique. Une approche croisée de l'histoire de l'institution et de l'évolution de la question politique nous fera relever précisément ces contradictions et mettra en évidence une tension entre deux pôles antagonistes, en dialogue constant, le principe républicain et la question démocratique. Cette tension s'avère pertinente pour évoquer les musées nationaux et les politiques culturelles de la Cinquième République. On voit alors en quoi le musée national est une institution républicaine et dans quelle mesure la « démocratisation culturelle » s'articule avec la question démocratique. C'est à partir de ces réflexions que l'on peut questionner l'évolution des musées nationaux à partir des années 2000 et leur vaste mouvement de réforme. La réforme des musées nationaux se présente comme la modernisation de leur mode de gestion. Nous en analysons les effets dans deux cas significatifs que sont les musées du Louvre et d'Orsay, à partir de la dimension législative de ces mutations, de déclarations publiques des directions des établissements et d'entretiens réalisés avec des personnels de ces musées. Après avoir contextualisé/caractérisé ce mouvement de réforme, celui-ci est interrogé à partir de la tension définie plus haut entre principe républicain et question démocratique. On verra comment cette tension se reconfigure et se déplace dans un nouveau type de musée, le musée-entreprise. / As a revolutionary invention, art museum opened to the public in France is an institution that offers a contradictory space, in different levels: in the conflicts of the origins of the museum, in the validation of its relation of an institutionalized power, in the conceptualization of its public dimension. Mixing the particular history of this institution with an evolution of political issue, is a way to name these contradictions. This highlights a tension between two antagonistic poles, but in a constant dialogue, republican principle and democratic question. This conflictual dialogue has to be understood as an identification process and its crisis. This tension appears relevant to analyze national museums and cultural Policy during the french Fifth Republic. Therefore, national museum seems to be a republican institution and how “cultural democratization” enunciate itself with democratic question. From these reflexions, evolution of national museums and cultural Policy since 2000, and, the large amendments they know, are analyzable. Amendment of national museums presents itself as a modernization of their management and administration, by alleviating their ministerial tutelage. We analyze these amendments effects from two examples, Louvre and Orsay museums, by studying legislative dispositions, public statements of their directorate and interviews with employees in the museums. After this amendment movement has been contextualized and defined, it is analyzed from the tension between republican principle and democratic question. It is reconfigured and shifted in a new kind of museum appearing: company-museum.

Les points de vente de la presse écrite, encore appelés kiosques à journaux, sont le théâtre d’activités humaines au quotidien. Le passant qui traverse les grands carrefours de Yaoundé ou de Douala est attiré par les nombreuses personnes attroupées devant les kiosques à journaux où elles tiennent des discussions « interminables ». Pour les populations urbaines, il s’agit d’un passe-temps pour ceux qui s’y adonnent. Pourtant, la pratique est renouvelée au quotidien devant ces espaces de commerce. La présence de personnes devant les kiosques à journaux à longueur de journée traduit-elle une certaine oisiveté de leur part ou alors l’expression d’un réel intérêt pour les journaux ? Cette thèse analyse les logiques qui structurent le phénomène d’attroupement devant les kiosques à journaux et interroge la place des discussions qui y émergent. Les pratiques observées, ainsi que les entretiens menés au cours de l’enquête, montrent que la recherche des informations contenues dans la presse écrite est fondamentalement l’objet d’attraction des populations vers ces points d’approvisionnement. Les différents acteurs déploient des stratégies variées pour accéder à l’information. En effet, la vente directe des journaux comme seule source de revenus des kiosquiers relèverait d’une utopie. Face à la conjoncture qui sévit dans le secteur de la presse, les commerçants de journaux ne sont pas épargnés. La chute des ventes suscite le besoin de réajustements, dont le but est de combler le manque à gagner. Dans un contexte global dominé par la précarité, le consommateur n’est pas en reste. Désormais, parcourir les titres de journaux suffit pour se faire une idée de l’actualité. De cette exploration approximative émergent de manière instantanée des débats sur les sujets relayés dans les médias. Pour les protagonistes de ces échanges, la possibilité d’exprimer leur point de vue représente une forme de liberté d’expression, symbole de la démocratie, laquelle apparaît comme un élément structurant majeur dans la construction de l’espace public. / The newspaper stall constitutes an environment for daily human interactions. As one passes by the Yaounde and Douala major crossroads, it’s impressive to see the crowds gathered around the newspaper stalls. For many people, it has become a daily appointment for endless debates.The question is: Why do people spend so much of their time around those newspaper stalls? Is it because they are idlers? Or is it because they are truly interested in newspapers?Our thesis dissertation is aimed at analyzing the logics that structure the phenomenon of crowds around the newspaper stalls, and questioning the nature and content of the discussions resulting from peoples’ interactions in those places.From our observations on the field, and from the interviews carried out, it appears that the main reason why people gather around the newspapers stall is their search for information. Because of the economic crisis many people can’t afford to buy a newspaper. Therefore, they are often contempted with reading the titles on the front pages and when possible, gathering supplementary information from those who may have had the privilege to read the articles. Within this framework, spontaneous discussions and debates merge, which give the protagonists the opportunity to say their mind, and thus feel as if they are expressing their right to free speech, which symbolizes democracy and as such stands as a fundamental element in the public space.

The aim of my work is to describe the penetration of entertainment into the news and the normative reflection of this phenomenon. In the first chapter I conceptualize the phenomenon and discuss the basic literature on the topic. In the subsection I present my concept of the relationship between infotainment and other media concepts from the most general to specific ones such as infotainment. Further, I describe the Czech normative reflection on three different levels: the theoretical debate, the professional debate within political discourse (in which I also include the activity of regulatory authorities), and the debate within journalistic discourse. In the second chapter I show methodological attempts at coping with the penetration of entertainment and I suggest a methodological approach for my own research. In the third chapter I describe historically the onset of the news paradigm in the Czech media landscape, the penetration of entertaining elements into it, and the increased interpretive power of journalists in the commercialized infotainment news. After the description of the Czech normative reflection of this phenomenon and the presentation of the research, I propose a new approach to examine the fusion of entertainment and news.