Дигиталните медии и динамиката на съвременната публична сфера: опит за теоретична рамка
Digital media and the dynamics of the contemporary public sphere: an attempt at a theoretical framework

Author(s): Nikolai Mihailov, Vesselina Valkanova
Subject(s): Social Sciences, Media studies, Communication studies, Theory of Communication
Published by: Факултет по журналистика и масова комуникация, Софийски университет „Св. Кл. Охридски”
Keywords: communication; digital media; public sphere; platformization; public opinion; communicative influence; Jürgen Habermas; communication theory; deliberative democracy
Summary/Abstract: The article examines the dynamics and change of the contemporary public sphere caused by the emergence of digital media and their transformative impact on social life and communicative professions. For this purpose; the stages in Jürgen Habermas’s theory of the public sphere are traced; and; the main concepts in his two main works; dedicated to the classical public sphere (1962) and the one formed under the influence of digital media (2022), are analyzed. The authors examine the importance of this transformation on the democratic process; the platformization of the media and its influence in modern society, as well as the problems of technology in social networks. The article attempts to build a theoretical framework for explaining the development of the contemporary public sphere in accelerated change in communication technologies.

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