THE MEDIA AND THE TRANSFORMATION OF THE PUBLIC SPHERE - A CONTRIBUTION FOR A CRITICAL POLITICAL-ECONOMY OF THE PUBLIC SPHERE

This article brings a synthesis of the recent literature about the rol e the media have played in the transformation of the public sphere. De parting from this literature, a general research framework fora critic al political economy of the public sphere is presented. The central th esis of this approach is that a political economy of the public sphere should not be restricted to an analysis of its institutional configur ation and the actual labour process, but must extend its radius of act ion from the production of media messages to a political economy of re ception and its signification.