Fourth International Conference on Communication & Media Studies

Abstract

Since the advent of the digital revolution, the impact of the Internet on the public sphere and democracy has been largely debated by scholars coming from different disciplines; some have emphasised the democratic potentials of new media to foster minority groups’ participation and representation within the public debate, and others have articulated the possibilities of increased polarization due to the structure of the Internet itself. Control over information has always been a source of power and the role of media was traditionally one of institutions’ checkers and disseminators of facts and knowledge in order to inform citizens and concur in public opinion formation. How did this process changed within a hybrid media system? Which new gatekeepers emerge due to digital media? How is democracy affected? This contribution inquires the theoretical implications of gatekeeping within a networked public sphere by adopting 2015’s refugees crisis in Germany as case of analysis. Within a context of communicative capitalism, phenomena like filter bubbles and echo chambers emerged, impacting the way citizens consume information; gatekeeping takes now the form of information exposure, creating a fragmented networked public sphere, whose social and political consequences should not be left out. Literature review will be presented and conceptual conclusions will be drawn on the basis of the case under examination, considering the implications for democratic practices online.