beispielbild democratic potentials of online communication for political debate presentation at the...
TRANSCRIPT
Beispielbild
Democratic Potentials of Online Communication for Political Debate
Presentation at the International Summer School for Political Communication and Electoral Behavior, Milano, July 16-18, 2012
Barbara Pfetsch
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Political Communication and Media Change
- explosion of channels and avenues for (political, commerical, social …..) communication
- speed and new issue dynamics
- feedback loops and interactive communication- convergence of mass media and digital communication
venues
media effects research must be reconsiderednew potentials for political communication
(campaign, democratiziation, political debate …)
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Starting Point of Reflection
Democratic Potentials of Online Communication for Political Debate
criteria = inclusiveness and access for broad range of actors
Mass mediated public sphere:
„cumulative inequality“ (Wolfsfeld 1997)
low representation and difficult access for civil society actors („challengers“)
„
Is the internet a better public sphere?“
Under what conditions can online communication • make up for the deficits of traditional media?• contribute to the enhancement of democratic political debate?
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Outline
I Inclusiveness and democratic potential of online communication:Expectations and doubts
II Interactions between old and new media as critical link The Chadwick approach of a Hybrid Media System
III Consequences for researchInteraction between online and offline media as field of inquiry
IV Pathways of empirical research to assess the interaction of new and old media and its impact on democracy
V Conclusion
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What creates the democratic potentials of the internet?
- open access for everybody - unlimited carrier capacity- availability of information- interactivity- co-presence of horizontal and vertical communication
Indefinite reservoir of actors and issues Threat to the gate-keeping role of traditional mass
media
Access for challengersIncusiveness: Capacity and space for networks of new communicators, coalitions and issue networks
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The Hybrid Media System
This interplay between online and offline media leads to a hybrid media system which is “build upon interactions among old and new media” in contemporary politics and society.
It is the “outcome of power struggles and competition for preeminence during periods of unusual transition, contingency, and negotiability” (Chadwick, 2011).
Political Media Effects through the Hybrid Media System?
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Desiderates of Political Communication Research
- Conditions of Political Media Effects in the Hybrid Media System
Dynamics of Agenda BuildingNature and Mechanisms of Spill-Over between Online and Offline Media
- (a) direct Spill-Overs (Baringhorst 2008) (b) Online Media Spill over (Huffington Post, etc.) (c) Double-campaign focused spill-over Context Conditions
that make a particular type of spill-over more or less likely Research Designs and Methodology?
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Possible Context Conditions of Spill Over Effects
Nature of online and offline communication
– Specific types of issue coalitions and online networks (strongly connected actors, high frame strengths, frame sponsors);
– Particular (left or right) media at the receiving end;
Macro Level factors which shape the online-offline dynamic
issue characteristics (e.i. connection to larger conflics, established vs. latent issues;– country characteristics (pluralist countries vs. corporatist countries;
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Challenges of the Research Design
1. Analysis of issue specific communiction networks challengers build and act in coalitions
(≠ single blog/webpage)
online-communication of challengers
media/political debate
2. When and under what circumstances do we find spill-overs?
nature of the issue media and political context of countries
type of communication network
3. Evaluation of online-communication
democratic potential (accessability, inclusion)
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Methodological Challenges
webpage selection:•Google•experteninterviews•literature
webpage selection:•Google•experteninterviews•literature
text selection: print mediatext selection: print media
network-analysisnetwork-analysis
content analysiscontent analysis content-
analysiscontent-analysis
network selectionissue crawler, web crawler, spider software
network selectionissue crawler, web crawler, spider software
Online Offline
internet: challengers’ issue networks
frames & issues on the agenda
Spill-over
regression & time series analysisregression & time series analysis
causality?level of data analysis?
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Conclusion
The internet as such does not automatically bring about a more inclusive, a more accessible and therefore more democraticpublic debate;
The democratic potentials of the internet seem to depend on the interaction of old and new media and spill overs between them;
The hybrid media system opens up new opportunities for challengers and may be more inclusive;
The mechanisms and varieties of interaction between old and new media are a desiderate in political communication research whichrequires innovative studies and new methodologies.