[Air-l] habermas on the internet

[Jeremy Hunsinger]

"Use of the Internet has both broadened and fragmented the contexts  
of communication. This is why the Internet can have a subversive  
effect on intellectual life in authoritarian regimes. But at the same  
time, the less formal, horizontal cross-linking of communication  
channels weakens the achievements of traditional media. This focuses  
the attention of an anonymous and dispersed public on select topics  
and information, allowing citizens to concentrate on the same  
critically filtered issues and journalistic pieces at any given time.  
The price we pay for the growth in egalitarianism offered by the  
Internet is the decentralised access to unedited stories. In this  
medium, contributions by intellectuals lose their power to create a  
focus."

 From Habermas's  Kreisky prize lecture printed in Der Standard March  
10-11 translated in part in signandsight.com.   thoughts?


jeremy hunsinger
jhuns at vt.edu
www.cddc.vt.edu
wiki.tmttlt.com
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