The public on the television screen: towards a public sphere of exhibition

Abstract

The promotion of the witness and the consecration of the public as an actor on TV programmes have led to indepth changes in the public sphere. The relation between the public and the private have appreciably changed. The public sphere tends to be presented in the form of an evaluation of experiences, feelings and inclinations rather than by a number of opinions. Demonstration is replaced by exhibition and display. This new public sphere is no longer modelled on rational discussion as Jürgen Habermas described it. These changes are linked to the promotion of individualism and to the extension of the culture of psychology to the masses.