The Cyber Balkanization and Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere in Korea

Abstract

The development of information and communication technologies (ICTs) has sup-ported improvements in political communications among citizens, the organization of civil society groups, and collective action among citizens. Such changes are contribut-ing to the re-vitalization of the public sphere. The public sphere, which is a tremen-dously broad physical and symbolic space where public opinion is created, is com-posed of communication structures of a society. Furthermore, the distribution struc-ture of communication reflects the social relationship of power and leads to funda-mental changes in the roles and functions of actors as well as their relationship (Bim-ber, 2003; Newhagen & Levy, 1996; Fraser, 1992). In mass media-based communica-tion, citizens have hitherto remained in the status of passive information recipients. But today’s web-based communication fostering a number of noticeable changes in the structure of information distribution including the breakdown of the boundary be-tween information producers and recipients, obsolescence of gatekeeping, and promo-tion of interactive media modes. Thanks to such changes, citizens can now proactively participate in public discussion activities. The functions and innate structure of the public sphere undergo changes under the intervention of the social context. According to Habermas (1989), the dynamics of the formation and restructuring of the public discussion forum can be conceptualized as “the structural transformation of the public sphere.” Since the 1990s, Korean soci-ety has expanded the cyber public sphere amid the development of the new media including PC communication, the Internet, and mobile communication. By reforming the mechanism of agenda setting and public opinion, the cyber forum for public dis-cussion has demolished the monopoly of the mass media-based public sphere. Fur-thermore, the use of the cyber forum for public discussion as a tool for political mobi-lization and social movement has caused profound political ramifications. In the proc-ess, the progressive camp has taken ideological initiative and reaped political fruits. Therefore, the progressive camp has been perceived as the principal beneficiary of the changes in the cyber space. Recently, however, conservative camp has made a great leap forward in cyberspace and begun to carry out countervailing public discussion activities. As a result, it has become questionable to equate the Internet as an abode reserved only for the progressives. The Internet has become the locus where fierce ideological competition is taking place. In short, the topography of power in the cyber forum for public discussions is undergoing a restructuring as a more power-balanced system is emerging from the previous structure dominated by the progressive camp. The goal of this paper is to identify the causes of the formation and restructuring of the cyber public sphere and to assess their political implications in Korea. Histori-cally, the public sphere is a product of political enlightenment and social environment created by modernization. And the advent of new types of media and antagonism among communication actors has caused structural changes in the public sphere. With