Lecture 10 in the course From Gatekeeping to Gatewatching: News and Journalism in the Digital Age. This lecture series addresses the continuing transformation of the production and consumption of journalism in the contemporary media environment. It provides a brief history of the impact of participatory online news production and engagement practices – from the first wave of citizen journalism to the social media platforms of today – on how news content is disseminated and experienced; examines reactive and proactive responses to these changes by news organisations and journalists; and explores the longer-term impact of these developments on the public sphere, touching on the power of social media platforms and their role in shaping their users’ information diets. Readings are largely drawn from Gatewatching and News Curation: Journalism, Social Media, and the Public Sphere (Bruns, 2018), with additional readings recommended for selected lectures. Reading for this lecture: Bruns, A. (2018). New(s) Publics in the Public Sphere. Gatewatching and News Curation: Journalism, Social Media, and the Public Sphere. Ch. 8. Peter Lang.

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New(s) Publics
in the Public Sphere
Prof. Axel Bruns
Guest Professor, IKMZ, University of Zürich
a.bruns@qut.edu.au — a.bruns@ikmz.uzh.ch

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Journalism and Social Media
• Last week:
• Responding to the challenge of ‘fake news’ and other mis- and disinformation
• This week:
• The emerging digital public sphere(s) in the contemporary media environment
• Next week:
• Are these publics connected, or fragmented into echo chambers and filter bubbles?

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The Public Sphere?

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• “Mediated political communication”
• “Carried on by an elite”
• “On a virtual stage of mediated
communication”
(Habermas, 2006)
Public
Sphere
Photo
by
Mike
Philipp
on
Unsplash

5. Image: Midjourney

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Image: Midjourney

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‘The’ Public Sphere?
• No, but subsets:
• ‘The’ public sphere
• Public spheres – e.g. political, cultural, Indigenous, … / blogosphere, Twittersphere, …
• Public spherules / sphericules – e.g. on various larger themes
• Issue publics – e.g. on specific issues, events, topics
• Personal publics – around individuals, e.g. around social media profiles
• … but maybe not quite so hierarchical
https://www.rawpixel.com/image/6536163/vector-sticker-public-domain-blue

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https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.5555/1412688.1412691
(Image:
Julien
Beauséjour)
‘The’ Public Sphere, Today
Mainstream media
Niche media
Publics,
communities, …
Everyday
communication

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• Publics, Crowds, …
• Triggered by issues and events
• Fast-moving and short-lived
• Limited in focus and scope
• Public Spherules (incl. Groups, Communities)
• Defined by topics and themes
• More persistent and stable
• Broader scope but unified by common theme
• Public Spheres?
• Domain-, identity-, platform-specific
• E.g. political, Indigenous, Twittersphere
• Persistent and highly visible
• Encompassing relevant publics and spherules
• ‘The’ Public Sphere?
• Traditionally, an arena for public debate amongst
elites in front of mass media audiences
• Now, the sum total of smaller publics, spherules,
and spheres?
Digital Publics and ‘the’ Public Sphere

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Communities?
Audiences?
Publics?
Crowds?
Groups?

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• Small number, known to each other
• Shared interests, values, and aims
• Stable relationships and distinct roles
Groups
Photo
by
Saksham
Gangwar
on
UnSplash

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• Small number, known to each other
• Shared interests, values, and aims
• Stable relationships and distinct roles
Groups How and Where to Find Them
• Strong, repeated, stable interconnections /
interactions
• Shared language, identity markers, media
objects
• Similar activity patterns

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• Larger, key members known to each other
• Shared but contestable interests, values,
and aims
• More complex structure involving centre
and periphery, leaders and followers
Communities
Photo
by
Jacinto
Diego
on
Unsplash

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• Larger, key members known to each other
• Shared but contestable interests, values,
and aims
• More complex structure involving centre
and periphery, leaders and followers
Communities How and Where to Find Them
• Repeated, stable interconnections /
interactions
• Emergence of influential lead participants
• Centre / periphery distinctions (e.g. 1/9/90,
Pareto: creators, contributors, lurkers)
• More interactions within community than
outside it (e.g. E-I Index)
• Broadly shared language, identity markers,
media objects

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• Much larger and much less knowable
• Transient and temporarily gathered in one
space (online or offline)
• Some shared identity or interests but no
universally shared values
Crowd
Photo
by
Joseph
Chan
on
Unsplash

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• Much larger and much less knowable
• Transient and temporarily gathered in one
space (online or offline)
• Some shared identity or interests but no
universally shared values
Crowd How and Where to Find Them
• Large to very large number of participants
• Strong activity for limited period of time, or
around defined issues
• Similar activity patterns, but limited
interaction between participants
• Shared language, identity markers, media
objects relating to specific driving issue

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• Centred around shared interest, issue, text
• Capable of forming and dissolving rapidly
(e.g. ad hoc publics, issue publics, …)
• Aware of each other and able to
communicate publicly
• May develop shared values through their
communication
• Capable of organising in support of a
common goal
Public
Photo
by
Colin
Lloyd
on
Unsplash

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• Centred around shared interest, issue, text
• Capable of forming and dissolving rapidly
(e.g. ad hoc publics, issue publics, …)
• Aware of each other and able to
communicate publicly
• May develop shared values through their
communication
• Capable of organising in support of a
common goal
Public How and Where to Find Them
• Large to very large number of participants
• Strong activity for limited period of time, or
around defined issues
• Similar activity patterns, and greater levels
of interaction between participants
• Shared language, identity markers, media
objects relating to specific driving issue
• Centring around key values can produce
longer-term structures and leadership

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• Centred around a shared (media) text
• Large but dispersed and usually unknown
to each other
• Unlikely to share values beyond central
common interest
• Incapable of acting together
Audience
Photo
by
Ben
Tofan
on
Unsplash

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• Centred around a shared (media) text
• Large but dispersed and usually unknown
to each other
• Unlikely to share values beyond central
common interest
• Incapable of acting together
Audience How and Where to Find Them
• Unified by central text (live performance,
media object, event / issue hashtag, …)
• Participant numbers from niche to very large
• Observing rather than actively contributing
• Therefore invisible to and unaware of each
other
• Often imagined and assumed rather than
tangibly traceable

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Where Does News
Fit into All This?

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#Hashtags for
Topical Coordination

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zy2qf_pR6OE&ab_channel=CNBCMakeIt

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#Hashtags?
• Very common question in social media research:
• Audiences: if users are simply following the hashtag (#BRAvSWI)
• Crowds: if users are posting into but not following the hashtag (#auspol, for most people)
• Publics: if hashtags are used to coordinate public action (#metoo, #blacklivesmatter)
• Communities: if there is sustained engagement by regular participants (#auspol, for some)
• Groups: if there is a strong sense of shared identity between regulars (#agchatoz)
Not every hashtag is a community!

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Newssharing in
Personal Publics

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Image: Midjourney

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Image: Midjourney

29. The Australian Twittersphere, 2016
4m known Australian accounts
Network of follower connections
Filtered for degree ≥1000
255k nodes (6.4%), 61m edges
Edges not shown in graph
(From Bruns, Moon, Münch, and Sadkowsky, 2017.)

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So What?

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https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.5555/1412688.1412691
(Image:
Julien
Beauséjour)
‘The’ Networked Public Sphere, Today?
Mainstream media
Niche media
Publics,
communities, …
Everyday
communication

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a beautiful photorealistic painting of the public sphere (via Midjourney)
an extremely complex 3d topographic model of the networked public sphere (via Midjourney)
Why Do We Care?
• Metaphors matter:
• Making complex intangible concepts
intelligible
• Providing a common language for analysis
• Enabling better diagnosis of issues and
problems
• Informing practical action, business
strategies, and policy-making
• If there is no one public sphere any more, how
do we ensure every citizen is well-informed
about what is happening in the world, and able
to exercise their democratic rights and
obligations?

33. Echo Chambers, … or Hyperconnectivity?
Images: Midjourney

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‘I am … convinced that the new communication technologies do
offer unprecedented possibilities for democratic (as well as
undemocratic) intervention into the political arena’
— Peter Dahlgren
‘a healthy democratic regime is one in which various types of
public spheres are thriving, with no single one of them actually
enjoying a monopoly in public disputes about the distribution of
power’
— John Keane

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Next Time

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Readings
10. 25.11.: New(s) Publics in the Public Sphere
Bruns, A. (2018). New(s) Publics in the Public Sphere. Gatewatching and News Curation:
Journalism, Social Media, and the Public Sphere. Ch. 8. Peter Lang.
11. 2.12.: Echo Chambers? Filter Bubbles? Reviewing the Evidence
Bruns, A. (2022). Echo Chambers? Filter Bubbles? The Misleading Metaphors That Obscure the
Real Problem. In M. Pérez-Escolar & J. M. Noguera-Vivo (Eds.), Hate Speech and Polarization in
Participatory Society (pp. 33–48). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003109891-4

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Lecture
• NOTE:
• All lectures from here on will be in person in BIN-0-K.02!