The public sphere is an environment where the public can speak freely on politics. The definition, according to Habermas, is, “a realm of our social life in which something approaching public opinion can be formed. Access is guaranteed to all citizens.” A public sphere is established whenever individuals assemble to speak freely on topics of politics as they comment on the Daily Koz; a blog devoted to daily politics and the idea of free speech.
The Daily Koz is considered a public sphere because it gives people a virtual area to congregate and comment on the political issues of the day affecting the lives of all Americans. It is not restricted thanks to the first amendment right and there is discussion among the commentators, therefore placing in it the realm of the public sphere.
The discussion is heavily weighed to one side in that Koz is bringing up a topic, whether referencing to a news article and summarizing the main idea, or he does it with YouTube and posts a video and comments on that, beginning a discussion. Often times, if the subject is particularly controversial or popular, the amount of comments on the subject can reach into the hundreds.
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