Public sphere and construction of the common world. The dislocated narrative

Abstract

The article presents an analysis of the stories about the common world that information genres perform, seen as a key component of the public sphere. The story is considered from its ability to make the receiver enter imaginatively into the value conflict that it poses. It is argued that if journalism is to endure as a practice necessary for democracy, it is imperative to agree about certain rules, like those of objectivity and impartiality, which distinguish it from other media genres. But audiences demand from information media, along with some respect for these rules, that those media locate them in a community and that they adopt a perspective, a bias, about the world. The article investigates whether the news stories provide useful experience and knowledge to understand our world and whether they contribute to the dialogue between perspectives.