The Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere: An Inquiry into a Category of Bourgeois Society

Originally published in Contemporary Psychology: APA Review of Books, 1994, Vol 39(2), 225. Reviews the book, The Nature and Origins of Mass Opinion by John Zaller (1992). The author's commendable effort to specify a model of mass opinion formation offers readers an introduction to the prevailing vi

The Nature and Origins of Mass Opinion.

Fatty acids and alcohols are key intermediates in the methanogenic degradation of organic matter, e.g., in anaerobic sewage sludge digestors or freshwater lake sediments. They are produced by classical fermenting bacteria for disposal of electrons derived in simultaneous substrate oxidations. Methanogenic bacteria can degrade primarily only one-carbon compounds. Therefore, acetate, propionate, ethanol, and their higher homologs have to be fermented further to one-carbon compounds. These fermentations are called secondary or syntrophic fermentations. They are endergonic processes under standard conditions and depend on intimate coupling with methanogenesis. The energetic situation of the prokaryotes cooperating in these processes is problematic: the free energy available in the reactions for total conversion of substrate to methane attributes to each partner amounts of energy in the range of the minimum biochemically convertible energy, i.e., 20 to 25 kJ per mol per reaction. This amount corresponds to one-third of an ATP unit and is equivalent to the energy required for a monovalent ion to cross the charged cytoplasmic membrane. Recent studies have revealed that syntrophically fermenting bacteria synthesize ATP by substrate-level phosphorylation and reinvest part of the ATP-bound energy into reversed electron transport processes, to release the electrons at a redox level accessible by the partner bacteria and to balance their energy budget. These findings allow us to understand the energy economy of these bacteria on the basis of concepts derived from the bioenergetics of other microorganisms.

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Energetics of syntrophic cooperation in methanogenic degradation.

HUMIC substances are heterogeneous high-molecular-weight organic materials which are ubiquitous in terrestrial and aquatic environments. They are resistant to microbial degradation1 and thus are not generally considered to be dynamically involved in microbial metabolism, especially in anoxic habitats. However, we show here that some microorganisms found in soils and sediments are able to use humic substances as an electron acceptor for the anaerobic oxidation of organic compounds and hydrogen. This electron transport yields energy to support growth. Microbial humic reduction also enhances the capacity for microorganisms to reduce other, less accessible electron acceptors, such as insoluble Fe(III) oxides, because humic substances can shuttle electrons between the humic-reducing microorganisms and the Fe(III) oxide. The finding that microorganisms can donate electrons to humic acids has important implications for the mechanisms by which microorganisms oxidize both natural and contaminant organics in anaerobic soils and sediments, and suggests a biological source of electrons for humics-mediated reduction of contaminant metals and organics.

Humic substances as electron acceptors for microbial respiration

Soil microorganisms as controllers of atmospheric trace gases (H2, CO, CH4, OCS, N2O, and NO).

Grundbegriffe der Kommunikationswissenschaft

Der vorliegende Beitrag konzeptualisiert unterschiedliche Formen problematischen Publikumsfeedbacks als Ausdruck kommunikativer Gewalt, die bei Betroffenen Stress auslost und Bewaltigungsreaktionen in Gang setzt. Aufbauend auf dem Forschungsstand zur Wahrnehmung digitaler Sicherheit arbeiten wir heraus, dass Journalistinnen in besonderer Weise unter kommunikativer Gewalt leiden. Mithilfe von neun qualitativen Interviews mit betroffenen Journalistinnen im deutschsprachigen Raum untersuchen wir, (1) wie Journalistinnen die Situation wahrnehmen und bewerten, in der sie kommunikative Gewalt erlebten, und (2) welche Strategien fur die Bewaltigung dieser Situationen sie benutzten. Die Analyse der Interviews illustriert, wie Uberraschung, Mangel an Kontrolle und Personalisierung Unsicherheit produzieren und Situationen dadurch ihr besonderes Stresspotential entfalten. Weiterhin wird deutlich, dass kommunikative Gewalt nicht nur publizistisch problematische Bewaltigungsreaktionen (wie beispielsweise Selbstzensur) zeitigt, sondern auch Mechanismen auslosen kann, die publizistisch als wertvoll wahrgenommen werden (Selbstreflexion, Verantwortungsubernahme, Empathie). Die vorliegende Studie erganzt den in der deutschsprachigen Journalistik im Wesentlichen auf quantitativen Daten beruhenden Forschungsstand und stellt Erkenntnisse fur die Aus- und Weiterbildung sowie Medienpraxis zur Verfugung.

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„Du stehst unter genauer Beobachtung, unangenehmer Beobachtung“: Wie Journalistinnen kommunikative Gewalt aus dem Publikum wahrnehmen und verarbeiten

User commentary in digital journalism is commonly understood as a form of public user engagement and participation, a stance that reframes news organizations’ role as discussion curators as necessarily consequential. Yet, in recent years many news organizations have limited, or abandoned altogether, their commentary functions. This paper examines statements and policies published by such news organizations. Based on a thematic analysis of 20 comment removal statements, we found that the most common rationale for this shift was an effort to reduce incivility and misinformation among user comments. The statements analyzed also indicate that organizations are moving to outsource commentary to social media platforms. Tapping into normative discourses of (avoiding) uncivil, conspiracy-prone commentary seems to be an acceptable rationale for abandoning infrastructures established for public discussions or to move these to social media; yet, we found no reflection whatsoever about the additional power afforded to social media companies through such a shift.

Killing the Comments: Why Do News Organizations Remove User Commentary Functions?

Research on cooperative social structures and particular types of conflict behavior online is readily available. However, the field lacks a framework to analyze how antagonistic structures are represented on online platforms. Social structures can be represented formally (manifestly) or informally (in open verbal or visual forms) or remain latent - a distinction that has received little scholarly attention in the analysis of computermediated communication. Based on an interpretative analysis of relational structures and types of acts, we distinguish structural elements that lead us to empirical typologies of antagonistic structures and an analysis of whether and how they are represented online. We develop theses about why some structures are formally represented more often than others and theorize the consequences of this selective representation.

https://www.nomos-elibrary.de/10.5771/2192-4007-2020-1-35.pdf

Nina Springer

Papers

Grundbegriffe der Kommunikationswissenschaft

„Du stehst unter genauer Beobachtung, unangenehmer Beobachtung“: Wie Journalistinnen kommunikative Gewalt aus dem Publikum wahrnehmen und verarbeiten

Killing the Comments: Why Do News Organizations Remove User Commentary Functions?

Ontology of opposition online. Representing antagonistic structures on the Internet

New Opportunities to Revive an Old Relationship: Reader-Newsroom-Interaction on Online News Sites