New Media Liberal Democracy: New Media at the Forefront of Resurgence, in Political Engagement?

New Media in the present day is constantly the topic of analysis and scrutiny in regards to its impact on communication and potential to up the level of interaction between people throughout the world. This scrutiny appears to be most appropriate as by the standards of media formats ‘New’ Media is still very much in its infancy, and this provides a context from which discussion of its impact on different areas becomes highly interesting; particularly in the case of politics.

 Mayer & Cornfield (pg 319, 2008) argue with the numbers of internet user rising dramatically since the end of the 90s and throughout the 21^st century, the masses have had exposure to a variety of media forms (blogs, videos, interactive sites etc) which is providing a challenger to Television’s role as key centre for information during elections. This coupled with internet’s ability to counter ‘top down’ structures of information dissemination allows it to encourage public forums and political debates to go back and forth; not just between media and political figures, but the general public themselves (Mayer & Cornfield, pg 319-20, 2008). This potential for a greater spectrum of political discourse provides the opportunity for a more level playing field in terms of who has a voice in elections and political matters.

Social media has also become an important tool for politicians in the last 10 years or so, with Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter’s potential for not only addressing the masses a factor, but also in its ability to target specific interest groups within this framework (Ridout, pg 83-4). Ridout also notes that social media has helped to evolve election campaign practices and in effect overcome declining viewing of broadcast media by and battling voter apathy by reaching out to alienated voters (pg 84). In terms of voter apathy we, could be seeing a shift in the attitudes of many people (including particular minority groups) to engage in the political process and turn out in higher numbers. Pearson Education’s Database shows that voter participation for U.S presidential elections was at the level of 49.1% (of eligible population) in 1996, and has rose to 56.8% in 2008 with subsequent rises in the elections prior to that one (Pearson ed, citing  http://elections.gmu.edu, 2013). This view is also backed up with the claim by Jenkins & Thorburn (pg 1, 2003) that by 2000, 90% of American internet users were also registered voters; showing perhaps there being some substance and correlation between the use of online media, and political polarization.

The potential for New Media to have a role in a liberal democracy is not however just limited to election campaigns; with the everyday political landscape being shaped and formulated by online experience. The White House itself has a YouTube channel with over 370,000 subscribers, and as such can filter information straight to the people who want to hear it most without any need for first directing it through established media platforms and companies. All in all, while there may be some other weaknesses to the shift of political engagements to New Media formats, it cannot be said however that it is not aiding in capturing the attention of voters out there and bringing them into political conversations and campaigns.