Dialectical Spaces in the Global Public Sphere: Media Memories across Generations

Abstract

A decade ago, CNN and MTV emerged as new types of 'global' players, initiating and supporting a new global transnational community of 'news junkies' and music cultures from New York, to Tokyo, to Buenos Aires and Los Angeles. Today, access to international news is not only available in many countries around the world, but international channels have multiplied and created 'imagined communities' (Anderson, 1983), affecting new political alliances, conventional journalism and - increasingly - national public spheres. The following research report will discuss new issues of globalization and focus on the impact of media-related globalization processes on 'life-worlds' in various countries. The Fellowship at the Joan Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy, John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, has allowed me to reconsider categories of communication theory in light of new globalization processes and develop a theoretical framework for further analysis. The intellectual atmosphere in this world-class environment has been tremendously inspiring. I thank Alex Jones, Nolan Bowie, Jonathan Moore, Richard Parker and Thomas Patterson of the Joan Shorenstein Center for providing me with this academic support. I also want to thank my co-fellows, Eytan Gilboa, Rick Kaplan, Paul Kelly and Matthew Storin for taking the time to discuss my work with me.