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Public Service Media remains at the centre of the public sphere in Northern Ireland. Public Service Media organisations such as the BBC broadcast in a society that remains politically and culturally divided. This has been the case for decades, even if the worst of the violence in Northern Ireland has now dissipated. The Northern Ireland media system includes local media provision, along with provision from the rest of the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland. This article identifies Northern Ireland's media system as sharing characteristics with what Puppis (2009) defines as a small media system, under slightly different conditions. This article takes a Critical Political Economy approach to Public Service Media organisations operating in Northern Ireland, in order to argue that while there is prominence in the place of PSM in the media system, there is also vulnerability inherent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The growth in interest and research in community radio worldwide over the last few decades is a welcome development. While, as noted by Jankowski (2003), a first generation of research has been largely empirical in nature, describing and analysing the organisation and operation of stations in different contexts, more recently a second generation of work has begun to emerge which aims at grounding empirical studies within broader theoretical frameworks, most notably those relating to democracy and the public sphere. The specific components of the public sphere remain somewhat underdeveloped in these studies however. This article aims to contribute to this literature through an examination of community radio in Ireland within a framework drawn from evolving work of Habermas and associated deliberative, social and media theorists. The article, drawing on a detailed study of four community stations in Ireland, identifies elements of community radio which contribute towards a "defeudalisation" of the public sphere as well as highlighting challenges in this regard. Although situated within a specific context, with Irish community radio operating within a comparable regulatory environment to both that in Australia and the United Kingdom, the article draws lessons of specific interest to researchers and activists in these domains, as well as offering a framework of use to community radio researchers interested in examining the sector's contribution to the re-animation of the public sphere more globally. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Community media presuppose not only the existence of larger, dominant media systems, but of multiple smaller, local publics as well. Small scale public spheres are distinct from the larger public spheres of media not only in size and scope, but also in their character and function. Small-scale public spheres are distinct from the larger public spheres of media not only in size and scope, but also in their character and function. The article explores the work of Nicholas Garnham, Charles H. Cooley and Benjamin Barber as a way to answer the questions of what does such a small scale public sphere look like, and how might broadcasting operate within it? Media systems based in a small scale public sphere provide greater opportunities for participation and access than do mass media, but the benefits of community media do not come easily. Three main limitations present barriers to media of the small scale public sphere: capital investment, restricted access, and apathy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]