Impact of New Media on Modern Elections - Essay Example

Literature Review - Impact of New Media on Modern elections - Literature Review Media has always been a great help in elections and with the growingpopularity of online media like Facebook and YouTube, the options are increasing and opportunities for campaigners might be stronger. Besselaar and Oostveen (2004) in their work Internet Voting Technologies and Civic Participation: The Users’ Perspective says that Internet voting is meant for supporting decision making and also to collect information as in case of opinion polls and may be applied for consideration. The article also addresses e-democracy and distinguishes it from e-voting. Online democracy is not limited to polls and elections online. ICT does invite new opportunities. There are three categories broadly in which Internet voting may be classified – poll websites, kiosks and remote voting system. External influence is very common in case of remote voting compared to the well-monitored election booths. The problem of access cannot be ignored and the ‘digital divide’ exists across race, ethnicity and gender. The authors have also stated through thorough research that casting votes over the Internet might hamper the secrecy of a voter. The case presented here is that of TruE-Vote which uses smart card techniques and cryptography to design and formulate user accommodative system of voting through the Internet. Care has been taken such that the system is secret and secured. Field experiments were conducted through focus groups at five different locations. Tools used apart from the e-voting system designed include questionnaires. Results show that the participants and pollsters did not expect that turnout rate would be influenced by this method of voting. Therefore the argument usually given in favor of e-voting (regarding increased turnouts) is proven wrong and the real cause could be cost curtail and time saving. The researchers concluded that traditional voting should not be substituted as his might leave out a large section of the population and internet voting might be used alongside the traditional ballot system. Also, despite expectations that e voting might enhance the democratic element there has been no definite plan about how this might be done in reality. (Besselaar and Oostveen 2004) With the advent of Facebook, Orkut and YouTube, a wide range of polling activities are already taking place on these sites. These websites obviously have great potential to assist the political elections as well but regulations will be essential. Already huge number of polls is taking place through Facebook. (Facebook: Polls, 2010) It is very easy to create a free poll by typing the question and such results are open to all. These results might play a strong role in affecting the mindset of the voters especially when such polls are informally organized related to political issues. Any kind of voting encompasses the need for trust and security. Besselaar and Oostveen (2005) in their work Trust, Identity, and the Effects of Voting Technologies on Voting Behavior, addresses the question “to what extent the voting technology influences the articulation of (political) preferences and opinions by citizens, and how this effect is mediated by sociological and social psychological variables, in particular trust and social identity.” (Besselaar and Oostveen, 2005, p.305) The system through which the voters express their opinions should be secure such that it is “accurate; only legitimate voters participate, and only once; protected against fraud and mistakes” (Besselaar and Oostveen, 2005, p.305). Apart from these, the privacy of the voters should be preserved, that is, their identity should not be revealed. The process needs to be transparent and verifiable. The article, in this light attempts to explore the impact of various media on the way the voters behave or express their personal views and social choice. While a traditional ballot system is reliable to the voters, in case of e-voting through polls conducted over the Internet, there is a lack in transparency. The voters cannot observe in what way their opinions are being processed. Confidence of the voters in this case depends upon the media through which they are casting their vote, specially the organization arranging the system and the technology used for casting and calculation. Trust level influences the outcome of the voting especially when Internet is used. However the main advantage here is that unlike traditional voting system no queue and traveling is required and the comfort of the home is always present while casting the vote. It is therefore useful in reaching a large number of people simultaneously for a single election. However if the social backdrop of an individual voter is revealed during the process of voting then the outcome might be biased according to the location. It might also be said that in home based voting, the voter might come under pressure from peers. The method followed was by arranging a practical election system using e-voting. 14 polling were carried out in France, London, a trade union group of Italy, two community based networks from Finland and Italy. Opinions were obtained on issues from the real word related to car parking, welfare services, etc. tools used were many – “prevoting and postvoting questionnaires, observation, log file analysis, analysis of the ballot outcomes, and interviews with ballot organizers and voters” (Besselaar and Oostveen, 2005, p.307). Statistical tests were performed to compare three kinds of voting techniques – paper based computer-based web interviews and TruE-Vote. Sample used is small and self selected. Hence the findings are also not ones that might be generalized. However the hypothesis that media affects the outcome of voting has been validated by the data collected. The research provides a foundation to carry it on further and analyze the degree to which this influence might extend, that is the level of bias in the voting outcome. Now, coming to the new forms of freely available online media like Facebook, we may find several images, videos and comments encompassing public opinions and information sharing which makes it a potential election campaign venue. For instance, the Halalan 2010 election campaign can be found on Facebook. The question arises once again about the trust that might lie in such media and the campaigners. The 2010 campaign is still on, and the outcome is yet to arrive in order to be exposed to a forensic analysis. However, such media on the internet have definitely got the potential to influence the voters’ minds especially owing to the regular activities and the interests of the internet users towards such networks. (Halalan 2010: the Election Campaign is on Facebook, 2010) According to the work ‘Regulating Canadian Elections in the Digital Age: Approaches and Concerns’ by Small (2009) regulation is important for the voting systems operating online. The author talks of a video posted on YouTube which permits free uploads of videos. An unidentifiable user named ParkRidge47 posted the video. The video shows the image of the Apple advertisement with the title ‘1984’ and, the portrayal of the Big Brother (representing absolute rule) is substituted by the ‘Democratic presidential hopeful Hilary Clinton’. It expressed hope in the 2008 elections for a Democratic presidency and finished with the caption “On January 14 the Democracy primary will begin. And you’ll see why 2008 won’t be like ‘1984’” (Small, 2009, p.189). Finally the video read ‘BarackObama.com’. This is referred as the Vote different ad. Virus affected the video within a few days only. This is because this raised controversies and was discussed everywhere in the conventional media and also different websites and blogs. The maker of the video revealed his identity on a blog. Owing to this publicity the ad reached above five million people. In United States only the paid online political advertisements are subject to norms and regulations. The Federal Election Commission made the rule in 1999 that Internet needs to be regulated and any website that is campaigning on behalf of a candidate needs to reveal its sponsor’s identity and the cost underneath the process. However the Congress’ Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002 did not bring online campaigning into consideration. Thus the approach changed to that of non regulation. The information presented in this article indicates the need of regulation of the free media available online. Common people can thus express their thoughts and opinions and ideas using the tools provided by these media. Face Book, YouTube, Twitter are some of the examples. The election of Barack Obama sent a note of optimism regarding the availing of digital media for elections. Britain is also about to launch digital election elections. From 2005 onwards the parties gained pace in improving their online activities for the sake of elections. An internet video diary was set up to highlight David Cameron the party leader. This video was also present in YouTube and “Episodes of WebCameron are among the most-watched in the news and politics category of YouTube; his appearance at a south London college this week attracted 15000 views in the first two days” (‘Thus far and no farther’, 2010). Yet broadcasting is the major source of publicity because the evening news telecasted allures millions of viewers. The modern election campaigns are thus highly influenced by the free and popular online media. However owing to the digital divide the influence of these media is also skewed. With wise regulation one can utilize these forms of media for the larger benefits of the nation. References 1. Facebook (2010), Polls, available at: http://www.facebook.com/apps/application.php?id=20678178440 (accessed on April 20, 2010) 2. Halalan 2010: the Election Campaign is on Facebook, (2010) Facebook, available at: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Halalan-2010-the-Election-Campaign/244817120437 (accessed on April 20, 2010) 3. Oostveen, A.M. and P.V.D. Besselaar (2004), Internet Voting Technologies and Civic Participation: The Users’ Perspective, Javnost / The Public Vol. XI, No.1, pp. 61-78. available at: http://www.social-informatics.net/OostveenJavnost2004.pdf (accessed on April 20, 2010) 4. Oostveen, A.M. and P.V.D. Besselaar (2005). Trust, Identity, and the Effects of Voting Technologies on Voting Behavior, Social Science Computer Reviews, Vol 23, No. 3, pp.304-311, available at: http://www.social-informatics.net/SSCR2005.pdf (accessed on April 20, 2010) 5. Small, T. (2009). Regulating Canadian Elections in the Digital Age, Election Law Journal: Rules, Politics, and Policy. September, Vol 8, No. 3, pp.189-205. 6. ‘Thus far and no farther’, (March 18, 2010). New Media and the election, The Economist, available at: http://www.economist.com/world/britain/displaystory.cfm?story_id=15719160 (accessed on April 20, 2010) Read More