Blog discussions usually count as a public sphere, but not all the time. Given that they are on the internet, which can be accessed by anyone, it is reasonable to assume that anyone can read a blog and respond to it. However, there are some limits to this ability. Those people who don’t have access to the internet or do not know the language that the blog is written in could not read the blog and understand the ideas it portrays. This is a major problem when it comes to understanding other cultures and other ways of thinking, which directly influence disagreements between cultures and countries. Without knowing what the other side thinks, it’s harder to discuss the problems at hand and come to a compromise. Blogs also stop being a public sphere if a person is not a member of a blogging site. Without a membership, people cannot respond to blogs that they read with their own thoughts and opinions on the issue. While they can still learn another person’s perspective, they cannot teach that person a new perspective in return. All three of these situations forego the ground rule of a public sphere: that “access is guaranteed to all citizens.”
On the other hand, blogs still fulfill the definition of a public sphere in that it gives people “the freedom to express and publish their opinions.” They are not edited in a way that makes them more friendly or convincing to a larger amount of people, so therefore they are not censored. A reader of a blog can instantly understand the writer’s exact point of view on a subject. Therefore, a blog is a public sphere, but there are still limits on who can join in on the discussion.
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