ISSN-0972-9445
Emerging Trends in Development Research
Vol. 33, No. 1 & 2, 2026, 41-49
Are Habermas' Principles of the “Ideal Speech Situation” Applicable to the Global Media Sphere?
Viacheslav Maracha
Associate Professor at the Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration, the Financial University under the Government of the Russian Federation, and the Higher Engineering School of the National Research Nuclear University MEPhI
Vice President of the National Guild of Professional Consultants, Moscow, Russia
E-mail: maratcha@yandex.ru
Abstract
One of the foundations of modern civil society is public communication, for which Jurgen Habermas proposed the principles of the “ideal speech situation”. These principles help to avoid a “war of all against all” in public communication and create conditions for achieving mutual understanding on socially significant issues.
Even more relevant is the application of Habermas’ principles to the activities of professional bloggers, journalists, and media outlets, whose audiences are much broader than those of individual citizens communicating with each other or writing on social networks. But if globalization, migration flows, and transnational media groups blur the boundaries of national civil societies and communication fields, a legitimate question arises: are Habermas’ principles applicable to the global media sphere?
Today, the challenge to freedom of speech comes not only from authoritarian regimes, but also from mainstream publications in the “liberal” media sphere, which control the global “agenda” and impose certain narratives on the audience. This turns liberalism into a type of totalitarian ideology, and the media sphere into a field of “hybrid warfare” with the help of fake news and the suppression of dissent, which contradicts the values of classical liberalism. The essence of the challenge is the possibility of suppressing alternative points of view under “liberal” slogans. In the global context it generates “weapons of mass destruction”, which give some countries advantages in “hybrid wars” and significantly affect the geopolitical situation.
How “liberal” censorship works without the formal-institutional introduction of censorship? The key mechanism is the “production of events,” which allows the formation of the desired worldview without direct falsifications. Basic facts are “formatted” and presented within the given ontological framework, and deviations are blocked. The absence of formal censorship is compensated by “cancel culture,” which gives rise to self-censorship. Independence and pluralism retreat under the pressure of media formatting and dogmatic thinking, which devalues the institution of reputation.
Thus, the “liberal” media sphere is becoming a space for “hybrid warfare”, creating a strategic challenge to global security. The response should be joint efforts of independent journalists, publications and states of the “global majority” to protect genuine freedom of speech and pluralism of opinions.
Key words: public communication; freedom of speech; principles of the “ideal speech situation”; global media sphere; hybrid warfare; fake news; self-censorship; “production of events”; media formatting; cancel culture.
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