In the mid 1990s there was a powerful new technology that seemed poised to revolutionize the communications paradigm in American politics. The internet was supposed to be a total game changer, returning power to the people, and removing the media, and thereby the need for big money, from the political equation. Now, twenty-some years later it is apparent that the internet, and online communication specifically, has only served to entrench prior communication patterns rather than revolutionize them.
The age of the internet, at least as far as political communication goes, is deemed to date from Bob Dole’s announcement of his campaign’s web address during the presidential debates of 1996 (Epstein, 2011; Davis, 1999). Although some attempts …show more content…
In the course of American politics there have been three major revolutionary changes in political communications: radio, television, and the internet (Epstein, 2011). In the first two technologies, political communications (from the campaigns to the people) were quickly and largely supplanted by the new technology. When radio arrived, campaign speeches and campaign advertising went “on the air” and print was largely reserved for reporting and punditry. On the arrival of television, radio became the second choice communications channel, and television the mandatory channel. The internet, on the other hand, has largely served to supplement existing communications channels rather than supplant them (Eriksson, 2012). The advantages conferred by online communication, in that online …show more content…
Two way communication was neither desired by the campaigns nor achieved. Online communications preserved the customary static monologues transmitted from the campaigns to the citizenry (Eriksson, 2012; Williamson, Parolin, 2012). In preserving rather than supplanting televised media as a channel of communication, the playing field has not been leveled by the internet, and the entry cost for new challengers has remained prohibitive. Finally, with the introduction of social media, primarily Twitter with its requirements for short, pithy sound-bites a new auxiliary communications channel has been introduced. Twitter communications tend to replicate existing communications channels in that they are one-way static monologues delivered by the campaign (Williamson, Parolin, 2012). But because their brevity denies protracted dialogue (Godnov, Redek, 2014) and effective use relies on crafting a “bite” that can be “re-tweeted” they serve as a tool that allows campaigns to deflect discussion of the issues and focus on a personality-based campaign
The age of the internet, at least as far as political communication goes, is deemed to date from Bob Dole’s announcement of his campaign’s web address during the presidential debates of 1996 (Epstein, 2011; Davis, 1999). Although some attempts …show more content…
In the course of American politics there have been three major revolutionary changes in political communications: radio, television, and the internet (Epstein, 2011). In the first two technologies, political communications (from the campaigns to the people) were quickly and largely supplanted by the new technology. When radio arrived, campaign speeches and campaign advertising went “on the air” and print was largely reserved for reporting and punditry. On the arrival of television, radio became the second choice communications channel, and television the mandatory channel. The internet, on the other hand, has largely served to supplement existing communications channels rather than supplant them (Eriksson, 2012). The advantages conferred by online communication, in that online …show more content…
Two way communication was neither desired by the campaigns nor achieved. Online communications preserved the customary static monologues transmitted from the campaigns to the citizenry (Eriksson, 2012; Williamson, Parolin, 2012). In preserving rather than supplanting televised media as a channel of communication, the playing field has not been leveled by the internet, and the entry cost for new challengers has remained prohibitive. Finally, with the introduction of social media, primarily Twitter with its requirements for short, pithy sound-bites a new auxiliary communications channel has been introduced. Twitter communications tend to replicate existing communications channels in that they are one-way static monologues delivered by the campaign (Williamson, Parolin, 2012). But because their brevity denies protracted dialogue (Godnov, Redek, 2014) and effective use relies on crafting a “bite” that can be “re-tweeted” they serve as a tool that allows campaigns to deflect discussion of the issues and focus on a personality-based campaign