The lecture indicates that the online relationship between journalists and politicians, often referred to as a “tango,” is led not by journalistic or political actors, but by whether these actors are engaging in Twitter conversations as initiators or respondents. The authors argue that these particularities of the ambient communication reflect larger social transformations in journalism and political communication, illustrating how journalists have begun to re-negotiate their services to the citizens, while politicians, public relations officers, and spin-doctors have taken up communication roles that have, until recently, been reserved for journalists. The study identifies the peculiar interplay among the roles involved in journalist-politician conversations, which include mutual amusement, information sharing, reciprocal advocacy and monitoring, and the advocacy of views.
B.04 Guest lecture
COBISS.SI-ID: 32968541The ideas of transnational public sphere and cosmopolitan democracy seem to be obvious reactions to the development of a complex, interconnected but at the same time diversified and hierarchically stratified world in which we live. Local, national, regional and global issues, policies and actions affect us individually and collectively, but mechanisms are lacking that would enable citizens to communicate and act publicly beyond the national frame. The most recent technological advances in communication did not resolve the age-old controversies of how to harmonise (1) the corporate freedom of the media with technologically-feasible actions towards equalizing citizens’ opportunities to participate in the public sphere, and (2) the legitimacy of public opinion with its efficacy. If, in the present circumstances, the objective of the uncensored transmission of information is more or less attained, the essential question remains as how the media should be changed in the way that would allow of the (re)emergence of publicness.
B.05 Guest lecturer at an institute/university
COBISS.SI-ID: 32514909