The rise and fall of the public sphere? Public Service Broadcasting in Ireland, a wasted opportunity?
type: CreativeWork
description: The following thesis has set itself the task of answering the following questions. Does RTEs news and current affairs constitute a public sphere? Does it provide the viewer or listener with a detailed, substantive analysis of the issues it covers, providing the viewer with an arsenal of political facts in the process? Do we emerge at the end of any given broadcast a better-informed electorate? Or is the station guilty of the charge levelled against it by many of its critics, namely, that in the search for ratings, it has jettisoned its public service remit to deal with the issues it covers in a detailed way, and instead embarked on a “dumbing down” or tabloidisation of this aspect of its output?
abstract: The following thesis has set itself the task of answering the following questions. Does RTEs news and current affairs constitute a public sphere? Does it provide the viewer or listener with a detailed, substantive analysis of the issues it covers, providing the viewer with an arsenal of political facts in the process? Do we emerge at the end of any given broadcast a better-informed electorate? Or is the station guilty of the charge levelled against it by many of its critics, namely, that in the search for ratings, it has jettisoned its public service remit to deal with the issues it covers in a detailed way, and instead embarked on a “dumbing down” or tabloidisation of this aspect of its output?
author: Foley, Simon
language: en
keywords: Sociology
date published: 2004
date modified: 2026-07-24T03:02:46Z
provider: National University of Ireland - Maynooth
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: National University of Ireland Maynooth