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

2 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 reconsidered  new potentials for political communication (campaign, democratiziation, political debate …)

3 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?

4 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 research  Interaction 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

5 Democratic Public Sphere

6 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 challengers  Incusiveness: Capacity and space for networks of new communicators, coalitions and issue networks

7 Empirical Findings Comparisons between online and print media debates

8 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?

9 The Hybrid Media System

10 Desiderates of Political Communication Research -Conditions of Political Media Effects in the Hybrid Media System  Dynamics of Agenda Building  Nature 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?

11 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;

12 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)

13 Methodological Challenges webpage selection: Google experteninterviews literature webpage selection: Google experteninterviews literature text selection: print media text selection: print media network- analysis content analysis content- analysis network selection issue crawler, web crawler, spider software network selection issue crawler, web crawler, spider software Online Offline internet: challengers’ issue networks frames & issues on the agenda Spill-over regression & time series analysis causality? level of data analysis?

14 Conclusion The internet as such does not automatically bring about a more inclusive, a more accessible and therefore more democratic public 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 which requires innovative studies and new methodologies.