Introduction

According to Niklas Luhmann, contemporary media should be treated as “the evolutionary achievements that enter at those possible breaks in communication and that serve in a functionally adequate way to transform what is improbable into what is probable” (Luhmann 1995: 160). The role of the media is therefore to provide order to the information world by linking broadcasters with users (van Dijk 2006: 26). This continual transmission of the information contained in symbols by self-reproducing media networks accompanies individuals in all decision-making processes. The media - both traditional (press, radio, television) - and new (internet) are an intrinsic el-ement of the organisation of social life, including the processes taking place in the public sphere. It is thanks to the information transmitted through the media that social actors are able to make political decisions, and thanks to the media that the social order is reproduced and power is legitimised (or delegitimised), or, more broadly, the social structure is reproduced (van Dijk 2006). The discourse itself is a “tool” of the deliberative processes leading to political and economic decisions, as well as of semiotic visibility, which was discussed in the introduction to this book.

In order to more precisely define the roles and places of new media (especially the internet) in the socio-political system, we need to briefly recall the features that characterise these forms of communication. Important here are the constitutive characteristics of new communication technologies, such as interactiveness, integration (multimedia) and hypertextuality (see Introduction). These characteristics are responsible for the transition from mass communication towards distributed communication. The “few to many” communication model is replaced by a “many to many” model, which in theory favours a large differentiation of broadcasters and a demassification of media (Goban-Klas 2004). As noted by van Dijk, “the new media cause a shift from allocution towards consultation, registration and conversation” (van Dijk 2006:12). This means thatthe internet helped to leave behind a model in which the subject matter, time and speed of contents were up to broadcast centres (allocution model). The turn towards other models of communication (consultation, registration and conversation) leads to empowerment of peripheral (local) individuals.