Conceptualizing mediatization: Is `Have your say´ a kind of transnational public sphere for public deliberation?
Abstract
The present essay aims to reflect on the questions of how the BBC news website discussion forum Have your say is organized and to what extent it can be considered as a transnational or global public sphere for public deliberation. In order to do so, one must firstly look at this discussion forum in terms of its structure, so that we can comprehend in a descriptive and formal way what is Have your say. Then, to try to understand and suggest what exactly Have your say is in terms of the possibility of being a global public sphere for public deliberation, one must tackle into a reflection that encompasses the concepts of transnational/global public sphere (Habermas, 1996; Castells, 2008), public deliberation (Pateman, 1970; Drvzek, 2000; Abelson et al., 2003), as well as some mediation/mediatization paradigms. The goal of this essay is to provide an objective academic reflection by attempting to frame this specific online phenomenon within the concepts above mentioned, to ultimately argue and prove that online discussion forums such as Have your say are by definition ambivalent.
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DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.17951/ms.2017.1.23
Date of publication: 2017-11-13 07:43:57
Date of submission: 2017-01-23 17:55:58
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