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For the Habermasian theory of the "public sphere" to make sense in the 2020s, it must be able to address the modern tendency toward global systemic crises. To examine the relevance of the Habermasian public sphere to today's deeply interconnected digital world, this article provides a selective reading of Habermas' writings on the public sphere, examining how he developed the concept from its conceptual core (1962) through his Legitimation Crisis (LC ; 1973) and The Theory of Communicative Action (TCA ; vol. 1 [1981] 1984, vol. 2 [1981] 1987). Working from the perspective of the "differentiated lifeworld," we show here that the theory's background assumptions about reality (truth), solidarity (justice), personality (authenticity) are now being exposed and destabilized by current crisis tendencies and imaginaries. Here, we examine three exemplary (and interconnected) global disruptions that expose these assumptions: the climate crisis, the intensification of financial inequality in the Global North, and the rapid push toward datafication. Through our examination of whether the public sphere as Habermas conceived of it can exist in today's world, we provide a more expansive form of criticism of the public sphere (which is usually critiqued on the narrow grounds of the rational bias of communicative rationality). Here, we underscore the fundamental importance of addressing the complex system-lifeworld dynamics that are today re-conceptualizing and re-contextualizing the "public sphere" in this era of contemporary global crises. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Local sectors of vibrant civic community news sites are important for journalism to improve and communities to thrive. In this study, we examine the news ecologies of four metropolitan regions, Chicago, Seattle, Minneapolis, and New York City, to explain which structural features of the local news environment can make or break civic news websites. Based on a Qualitative Comparative Analysis of 137 cases, we conclude that the most significant contributors to sustainability are connection to a postsecondary institution and location within a news network. We suggest how foundations and others can direct their efforts for increasing sustainability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paradigmatic focus on global and individual networks in communication has suppressed the Chicago tradition of understanding the city as a network of places. But the social ecology of the city continues to structure all aspects of urban communication networks including personal, institutional, and civic life. This article critically examines four major theorists of networked urban communication—Castells, Wellman, Fischer, and Sampson—and argues that the field of urban communication should return to a revitalized ecological tradition, while taking full account of the networked transformation of social life and social structure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]