Between Facts and Norms - Contributions to a ... - Blogs Unpad

376Chapter 8produce identifying features. This is especially evident with socialmovements that initially go through a phase of self-identificationand self-legitimation; even after that, they still pursue a self· referential"identity politics" parallel to their goal-directed politics-theymust continually reassure themselves of their identity. Whetheractors merely use an already constituted public sphere or whetherthey are involved in reproducing its structures is, moreover, evidentin the above-mentioned sensitivity to threats to communicationrights. It is also shown in the actors' willingness to go beyond aninterest in self-defense and take a universalist stand against theopen or concealed exclusion of minorities or marginal groups. Thevery existence of social movements, one might add, depends onwhether they find organizational forms that produce solidaritiesand publics, forms that allow them to fully utilize and radicalizeexisting communication rights and structures as they pursue specialgoals.65A third group of actors are the journalists, publicity agents, andmembers of the press (i.e., in the broad sense of Publizisten) whocollect information, make decisions about the selection and presentationof "programs," and to a certain extent control the entryof topics, contributions, and authors into the mass-media-dominatedpublic sphere. As the mass media become more complex andmore expensive, the effective channels of communication becomemore centralized. To the degree this occurs, the mass media facean increasing pressure of selection, on both the supply side and thedemand side. These selection processes become the source of anew sort of power. This power of the media is not sufficiently reinedin by professional standards, but today, by fits and starts, the "fourthbranch of government" is being subjected to constitutional regulation.In the Federal Republic, for example, it is both the legal formand the institutional structure of television networks that determinewhether they depend more on the influence of politicalparties and public interest groups or more on private firms withlarge advertising outlays. In general, one can say that the image ofpolitics presented on television is predominantly made up of issuesand contributions that are professionally produced as media inputand then fed in via press conferences, news agencies, publicrelationscampaigns, and the like. These official producers of