Current Public Sphere???

For a presentation in class today I was required to read a critique of Habermas. I have read Habermas in another class but never quite understood it like I did this time around. In comparing Habermas’ work to other theorists and analyzing what he said from a critically contemporary viewpoint the information became far more interesting. While I do see value in critical analysis of more historical theorists I feel as if I have been required to focus too much on the history of communications in too many classes. Possibly just because of my interests, I am far more concerned with the applicability of different research and conclusions on my life and the future. For this presentation, I more or less evaluated what was said based on its applicability today. While it is a tall order expecting people who theorized even 10 years ago to be remotely accurate in today’s media environment, we take lessons about contemporary media and the public sphere from their work. While many of the academics presented very valid and unique arguments, there was a trend that seemed to be similar among all: It is vital to keep corporate interest an arm’s length away from reporting and the news. This seems logical as reporting integrity seems to have suffered throughout history when corporate interest gets involved.
Coming to today’s evolving public sphere and media environment I believe the blog presents great potential. From this class alone I have learned much about blogging and can see why people get very involved with blogging. If the right people talk about the right things and discuss important issues respectively, there is essentially no end to the limits of blogging. For me, keeping corporate interest out of the blog will be vital. With the huge size of the internet, for once the users have the ability to boycott corporate influence, but how long will this hold true? Only time will tell how history will judge the blog, but my guess is pretty favourably.