eDemocracy

Week 6 is here and with it brings a whole new topic. This week the topics of Cyberpolitics and eDemocracy were the big ticket items on the block. We now live in a society where we consume more and more of our news online and news outlets are using social media more as a means of distribution. With the creation of things like Facebook live, Snapchat, Periscope and the likes we are receiving the news and consuming it faster then ever before.

Van der Graft & Svensson (2006) describe eDemocracy as ‘…the usage of information and communication technology in the democratic process’ (p.123). The usage of the internet is not just for the campaign trail but for the political system as a whole. After doing a bit of research (as I hadn’t really thought in depth about the topic) I found myself becoming concerned in the way that the usage of social media might allow bias opinions and misinformation to be spread easier. That was until I came across this video. It is a video regarding the current presidential election in the USA. One topic he talks about is the fact that the corporate media had a major bias in covering presidential candidate Donald Trump over Bernie Sanders. I’m sure everyone can understand why Trump gets the coverage he does but as someone who has always thought that Journalism was supposed to be giving me the news straight as it is this was a big wake up call.

The fact that political campaigns are run so much online in the current day really shows the changing of the times. Malcolm Turnbull our current Prime Minister has over 300 thousand followers on Facebook, 66 thousand on Instagram and 658 thousand on Twitter with opposition leader Bill Shorten not far behind. They use these platforms daily to release videos, pictures and statements on what is going on in their lives, what is going on within the party and of course to trash the opposition. I personally think that we have been given such a great platform which allows us to get involved in the political agenda of our nation. Our leaders have never been more accessible and the information has never been so attainable we just need to learn to wade through the prejudice and become more informed.

Until next time,

Tahnee x

Reference List

The Big Picture RT, 2016, Can Social Media Seize Control of Our Elections?, videorecording. Viewed 31 August 2016, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hVFL8y8X70k

Van der Graft, P and Svensson, J 2006, ‘Explaining eDemocracy development: A quantitative empirical study’, Information Polity: The International Journal of Government, vol.11, no.2, pp.123-134, viewed 31 August 2016, via EBSCOhost database.