Page 250 - Information and American Democracy Technology in the Evolution of Political Power

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A Brief Comparison with Other Nations
In many countries, the evolution of new information technology fol-
lows closely the deregulation of broadcast media. One of the most com-
mon consequences of deregulation has been the kind of “channel” mul-
tiplication that also occurred in the United States. Increased opportunity
for choice has in turn led media businesses to compete more intensely for
viewers. European mass media, for example, underwent a transforma-
tion in the 1980s, as strong institutions of public ownership gave way to
privatization. The commercialization of European media weakened their
links to party organizations, and in many nations undermined the depth
and extent of political information conveyed by print and broadcast
5
media. That competition has led media businesses away from tradi-
tional news formats and toward a greater entertainment orientation. 6
While the United States may lead the way in this more superficial format
for news, the effect has also been found in many other countries. This
means that information technology is arriving on the political scene at a
time of increased competition and fragmentation of political communi-
cation. The undermining of the authority of traditional institutions and
nation-state processes associated with globalization and postmoderniza-
tion are now part and parcel of the international picture for information
technology and politics. In a general sense, such large-scale trends repre-
sent global facets of the U.S. pattern of development of postbureaucratic
forms of political organization.
In a number of nations, one finds examples of the new information
environment undermining the dominance of traditional organizations
and institutions over political information and communication. A small
but growing literature has recently emerged to document such devel-
opments, which bear a number of similarities to the situation in the
United States. In Germany, for example, new media have contributed
to substantially greater involvement in local political communication by
nongovernmental organizations (NGOs). The availability of nonlocal
funding for local groups, along with decentralization and out-sourcing
of services by local governments to private organizations, has fostered

5
PaoloMancini,“HowtoCombineMediaCommercializationandPartyAffiliation:The
ItalianExperience,”PoliticalCommunication17,no.4(2000):319–324;JayBlumlerand
Michael Gurevitch, The Crisis of Public Communication (New York: Routledge, 1995);
Jay Blumler, Television and the Public Interest (Newbury Park, Calif.: Sage Publications,
1992).
6
Anthony Mughan and Richard Gunther, “The Media in Democratic and Non-
democratic Regimes: A Multilevel Perspective,” in Richard Gunther and Anthony
Mughan, eds., Democracy and the Media: A Comparative Perspective (Cambridge, Eng.:
Cambridge University Press, 2000), pp. 1–27.

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