earticle

영어

The notion of the public sphere is a part of social life where people can exchange views on matters of importance to the common good, so that public opinion can be formed. This public sphere comes into being when people gather to discuss issues of social and political concern. Habermas' work relies on a description of a historical moment during the 17th and 18th centuries when coffee houses, societies and salons became the centre of debate, and extends this to an ideal of participation in the public sphere for today. This article argues that the public broadcasting, especially television can take a role of being the public sphere: the place where and the means by which the public is created and has its being. Television can create new public spheres of debate, discussion, and information through the debate programs. Through this, people can intervene in the public affairs of society and participate in democratic debate and shape the future of contemporary societies and culture. Of course, there should be a rule people need to learn the process of discussion such as avoiding use of emotion, listening to others, and focus on the rationality of the content alone. People should also have a common interest in truth, which means that they bracket status differentials so that participants speak as if they were equals. I also suggest that the public television, especially the debate programs on television should provide the opportunity that people can get interest, involve and develop what they think, and lead people to find out the public opinion promoting democracy. For this, it is required to bring the adequate items to debate, organize the representative public, and guide them to debate rationally. And finally the ultimate role of the television in the public sphere is to assist the realization of common objectives of society through agreement or compromise between conflicting interests. The media should contribute to this process by facilitating democratic procedures for resolving conflict and defining collectively agreed aims.

한국어

공론장이란 시민들의 공평한 참여와 토론이 가능한 소통공간이다. 하버마스는 이를 통해 사람들이 공공의 문제 뿐 아니라 자신들에게 필요한 모든 문제에 대해 자유롭게 토론하고 여론을 형성하게 된다고 주장했다. 우리나라의 방송이 지향하는 가치와 이념은 하버마스의 이러한 공론장 개념과 맞닿아 있다. 민주사회에서 방송은 국민의 복지 향상과 참여 실현에 가장 중요한 역할을 담당하는 사회제도이기 때문이다.문제는 방송이 이러한 역할을 어떻게 담당할 수 있을까에 모아진다.본 논문은 방송 토론프로그램이 공론장의 기능을 수행할 수 있다고 제안한다. 그리고 그 역할을 수행하기 위한 몇 가지 조건들을 제시하였다.가령 토론주제나 토론자 선정, 사회자의 역할은 물론,토론에 대한 룰을 지키는 것 뿐 아니라,토론의 이유와 방향, 그리고 그것을 통해 이루어야 할 가치 등에 대해서 살펴보았다.