Mass communication and the problem of standardization of space and time in the public sphere

The social construction of space and time in the public sphere is embedded in the processes of mass communication. The mass media\´s general preoccupation with "news" orients it narrowly in space and time, constructing a compelling need to broaden human perspectives. Media accounts are increasingly built around the narrow ideas of "proximity" and "timeliness" and exploit the prevailing sense of a collapsing cultural center, but must be reconciled with emerging ecological and systems thinking. Beneath the veneer of commonsense and naturalized ideas about space and time are hidden terrains of ambiguity and contradiction. This article draws on insights of social theorist Niklas Luhmann in discussing the linkage of mass communication to the three spheres of knowledge-temporal, material and symbolic-and explores the role of communication in the standardization of space and time in the media discourse