Page 244 - Battleground The Media Volume 1 and 2

Med a and C t zensh p |

way on the mass media. In order to make informed and rational decisions in elections, and,
more broadly, to understand events that affect their lives, citizens are therefore expected
to seek out information from media. We need to understand the policies and characters
of those who represent us in government, but also how global events like tsunamis and
terrorist attacks as well as local events like school closings and festivals impinge upon us.
While newspapers were once the dominant political medium, television has been the most
significant source of information for most people since the 1970s. Today, the average Ameri-
can spends 4.5 hours a day watching TV, though most of their television consumption is
entertainment-oriented rather than political. By contrast, the Internet is emerging as a key
source of political information—according to a study by the Pew Internet & American Life
Project, 26 million Americans used the Internet every day in August 2006 to gather informa-
tion about the upcoming midterm elections.

ConTEmPorary ChaLLEngEs: a Crisis
oF PuBLiC CommuniCaTions?
It is certainly the case that alongside the rise of increasingly sophisticated
forms of communication between politicians and citizens, there has also been a
corresponding decline of participation in politics. At least since the 1960s, ob-
servers have noticed that in Western democracies, particularly the United States
and the United Kingdom, fewer people are voting in elections. This period has
also seen a decline in other forms of political engagement, such as newspaper
readership, membership in voluntary associations, and trust in politicians. As
a result, there is a “crisis of public communications” (Blumler and Gurevitch
1997). Because of the limited opportunities for participation, people may be
turning away from conventional institutions, including parties and elections,
and engaging in other forms of political action. Certainly, during the same pe-
riod, there has been an increase in “single-issue politics,” where people mobilize
around a particular cause—including environmental politics, antidevelopment
activism, antiwar protests, and the global justice movement. Some blame the
crisis of public communications on the media, suggesting, among other things,
that the negative tone of campaign reporting turns off citizens because it makes
them view politics as a dirty game for insiders, where citizens can only be pas-
sive spectators or couch potatoes.
In recent years, scholars have invested hopes in new media technologies and
genres as a way of enhancing citizenship and boosting political participation.
First, some suggest that new television genres, such as talk shows and comedy, can
engage groups who are otherwise disenchanted with politics. A study conducted
by the Pew Center for People and the Press after the 2004 presidential elections
showed that young people (anyone under the age of 30) increasingly rely on
shows like The Daily Show with Jon Stewart for their political information—21
percent cited these as their main source of knowledge about the elections.
Secondly, ever since the invention of the Internet, its interactive potential has
been much heralded by observers (see also “Television Talk Shows, Politicians,