Conception of The Public Sphere (The Baltic Countries)

Jurga Jasineviit Ilona Jurkonyt

The goal: to overlook theoretical approaches towards the phenomena of public sphere and analyze its transformation using data of Baltic countries during the national awakening period (1987 1990).

The public sphere we can define following Habermas, Garnhem and Jakubowitcz

It is as the network of media, educational, knowledge and opinion-forming institutions within civil society whose operation is conducive to the emergence of public opinion as a political power (Jakubowitcz, 1997, p. 155)

Curran distinguishes three approaches to the public sphere: According to classical liberal theory, the public sphere is the space between government and society in which private individuals exercise formal and informal control over the state (the media concidered to be the fourth estate of realm , watchdog).

Radical democratic theory conceives the media as a battleground between contending forces.
Traditional Marxist/communist perspective maintains the opinion that the media should be viewed as ideological apparatus of the state, working for propaganda.

Nicholas Garnham considering Habermass theory counts at least three virtues of Habermass approach towards public sphere.

Firstly, Habermass original approach focuses upon the link between the institutions and practices of mass public communication and the institutions and practices of democratic politics.

Habermass approach focuses on the necessary material resource base for any public sphere. Third, Habermas distinguishes the public sphere from both state and market.

Habermass concept of public sphere offers a basis for the critical analysis of current developments of both media and democratic politics.
Garnham claims that usual structures of public communication are changing. This change is characterized by: (1) a reinforcement of the market and the progressive destruction of public service as the preferred mode for the allocation of cultural resources; (2) by a focus on a TV set as the locus for a privatized, domestic mode of consumption; (3) by the creation of market divided between the information-rich and information-poor; (4) by a shift from largely national to largely international markets in the informational and cultural spheres.

Without freedom of assembly and freedom to impact and

receive information it would be impossible for citizens:

1 - to possess the knowledge of the views of other necessary to reach agreements between themselves;
2 - to possess knowledge of the actions of those to whom executive responsibilities are delegated so as to make them accountable; 3 - to poses knowledge of the external environment necessary to arrive at appropriate judgment of both personal and societal interests.

The main characteristic of nowadays communication its

mediated nature. Mediated character of communication, according to Garnham, brings such issues:
Not everyone has got equal access to both channel and means of communication. Cannel and means of communication are possible to control. Second, what also became mediated is the content of communication and the subject of debate, or to use Habermass terminology, the experience of the lifeworld. The establishment of representative forms in political scope rendered the rationalization and alienation elements. This alienation of indirect democracy reveal its best features when it is necessary to deal with multiple variables.

When communication is mediated, two things are really important:

Duty to listen to the views of others and to alternative versions of events. Participation in debate, closely linked to responsibility for the effects that go as the result of the actions.

Garnham claims that the possibility of arriving at a rationally grounded consensus can only be demonstrated in practice by entering into a concrete and historically specific process of rational debate with other human beings (...) the task is to cooperate in building the political, economic and communication institutions. (Garnham, 1996, p. 375)

The answer to postmodern critiques is:

Habermass work is not utopian, it is rather tragic. It recognizes the extreme fragility of human civilization and the difficulty of sustaining the social bonds of mutual obligation, facing enmity of psychological, internal and external forces.

Media trasformation in Baltic countries in 1987-1990

The apearance of a new style of speaking in media (critics about soviet regime). Tendency towards democratization media content. The explosive growth of circulation of the press. Job market in the field of journalism expanded rapidly.

Leading Lithuanian Dailies Circulation 1990-2001.

Title Type Ownership Circulation Circulation Circulation (thousands) (thous) (thous) 1990 1995 2001 523 70 49

Lietuvos rytas

National daily National daily Regional daily National tabloid Business daily

National shareholders National shareholders Orkla Media (Norway) Private person Bonnier Media Group (Sweden)

Respublika

122

48

42

Kauno diena Lietuvos inios Verslo inios

113

57

42

25

14

Circulation of Dailies in Estonia in 1987-2000

1987 1988 1999 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 Average Circulation of one daily (in thousands) 63 68 76 83 64 31 23 19 16 17 15 16 18 20

Circulation of dailies per 1,000 inhabitants

406

433

486

528

411

199

183

186

162

173

178

175

189

182

Circulation of non-dailies per 1,000 inhabitants

338

380

446

549

709

518

613

590

419

361

343

325

290

231

Media role in the emergence of a new public sphere

Media is an important social mechanism used for the political breakthrough in the Baltic countries Media is like a source of encouragement to public action. Media can play a crucial role in mobilizing the masses Media is like a socializing agent, socializes people of common thinking about public demands

The public sphere and the political culture

The participation in politics can be treated as participation in the public sphere. So public sphere has some common aspects with the political culture. Baltic countries in 1987-1990 can be characterized by a very active level of participation in politics. The period of national awakening in Baltics is usually called by theorists as a mythological stage of political culture.

Towards creating a more democratic public sphere

Some tasks: to create more diversity in media content and in media outlets numbers, that it should reflect different interests in society to enlarge the participation of marginalized society groups in public debates and politics

Nowadays is undergoing discussion about the public journalism idea, which concerns problems of democracy, equality, participation. Public journalism is defined as more practical efforts of journalists to encourage people to participate in public affairs.

Numbers of Newspapers and Magazines in the Baltics, 1990-2000

Number of newspaper (titles) Estonia Latvia
1990
165 172

1995
146 286

1996
119 252

1997 1998 1999 2000

102 229 109 226 105 235 109 227

Lithuania
Number of magazines and other periodicals (titles) Estonia Latvia Lithuania

324

477

443

439

415

377

361

434 243 159

501 235 321

517 229 351

572 273 378

578 266 412

930 262 418

956 325 465

Nations in Transit 2001 ratings for democratisation

Average of Political process Governance and public administration

Central Europe

Civil society

Independent media

Democratization

Czech Republic
Hungary Poland Slovakia Slovenia Balkans Albania Bosnia Bulgaria Croatia Macedonia Romania Yugoslavia Baltics Estonia Latvia Lithuania

1.75
1,25 1,25 2,25 1,75 4 4,75 2 3,25 3,75 3 4,75 1,75 1,75 1,75

1.50
1,25 1,25 2 1,75 4 4,5 3,5 2,75 3,75 3 4 2,25 2 1,75

2.00
2,25 1,5 2 1,75 4,25 4,5 3,25 3,5 3,75 3,5 4,5 1,75 1,75 1,75

2.00
3 1,75 2,75 2,5 4,25 6 3,5 3,5 3,75 3,75 5,25 2,25 2,25 2,5

1.81
1,94 1,44 2,25 1,94 4,13 4,94 3,06 3,25 3,75 3,31 4,63 2 1,94 1,94

CIS

Average of Political process 5,5 5,75 6,75 4,5 6,25 5,75 3,25 4,25 5,25 7 4 6,75

Civil society

Independent media 4,75 5,75 6,75 3,5 6 5 4,25 5,25 5 7 5,25 6,75

Governance and public administration 4,5 6,25 6,25 4,75 5 5,25 4,5 5 6 6,75 4,75 6

Democratization

Armenia Azerbaijan Belarus Georgia Kazakhstan Kyrgyzstan Moldova Russia Tajikistan Turkmenistan Ukraine Uzbekistan

3,5 4,5 6,5 4 5 4,5 3,75 4 5 7 3,75 6,5

4,56 5,56 6,56 4,19 5,56 5,13 3,94 4,63 5,44 6,94 4,44 6,5

Conclusions
Public sphere can be seen as the network of media, educational, knowledge and opinion-forming institutions participating in political sphere. Here we can stress the mediated character of nowadays public sphere. Theorists of public sphere claim that the Western structure of public sphere is changing as the political map during last 20 years has changed a lot. The public sphere can consist of multiple small spheres. It is not homogeneous. So only in this way it can be called democratic. Media in the period of 1987-1990 in Baltic countries became a place for public debate over the emergence of a new public sphere in society. During the period of National Awakening in Baltics there was an explosion of press circulation, that shows the active participation in the public domain. Nowadays we observe the increasing diversity of newspaper titles but not the circulation. This is important going towards democracy because we can find more different opinions reflected in mediated public sphere. But the participation of people in the public sphere and politics is not of so high level. We face problems of access, marginalization. According to the democracy rating (consisted) among Central Europe countries Baltic countries are quite advanced: share third (Lithuania, Latvia) and fourth places (Estonia).