Why might Livingstone and Lunts approach to infotainment be criticized Essay

Why might Livingstone and Lunts approach to infotainment be criticized from Habermas perspective on the public sphere - Essay Example These realizations led to the postulations that communication had two dimensions with one dimension covering the overall communication of human beings and the other dimension covering the characteristics of communications that result from dynamics that influence communication at a given time and space (Outhwaite 2006, p.98). Therefore, communication is not a new concept. The current approaches to communication involve the works of Jurgen Habermas who approached communication using post-modernism and argued from a philosophical perspective. Herbamas concept of communication is that it should involve a deliberate action between the communicating parties to create harmony through a process known as rationalization. In essence, communication involves actors who take it upon themselves to create harmony and to solve problems through the process of communication. In essence, communication seized to be just an avenue for people to exchange ideas but an active tool that can be used to solve the problems outlined by the English Philosopher Thomas Hobbes (Outhwaite, Habermas: a critical introduction 2009, p.70). Habermas outlines that communicative action is not just communication but that it uses the tools of communication (Outhwaite, Habermas: a critical introduction, 2009). In essence, Habermas implies that for communicative action to take place both parti es have to be active participants. A central postulation to Habermas analysis of communication is that communication has to be rational. The concept of rationality is not new in the field of philosopher and sociology dating back from the times of philosophers like Plato and Rene Descartes. Although rationality is also still surrounded by controversy in terms of definition, the paper will approach rationality as concerning sound mind and reasoning. Communication in the contemporary world has taken a dynamic dimension beginning with the mass production of print media and cable television which has been the major