"New" Media

The practices and principles of media behavior in elections were developed for what we now regard as
“old” media: newspapers, radio, and television. Yet new forms of media are developing at a rapid rate.
The Internet is the obvious example, but there are other technologies that have a clear relevance to
elections: short messages (SMS) transmitted over mobile telephones, for example.
Are the regulatory practices and styles of reporting that have developed over the years for conventional
media equally applicable to “new” media?
First, there is a potential confusion to clear out of the way. There are many possible uses for electronic
communications technology in the electoral process itself. These include registering and voting online
using the internet or SMS. However, these are quite specific and need to be distinguished from the role
that these technologies may play as news or campaigning media. These are not discussed here.
Many of the assumptions that underlie the regulation of conventional media simply do not apply to new
media. For example, the space to publish material on the World Wide Web is literally infinite,
compared with the assumption behind broadcasting regulation that the frequency spectrum is a finite
resource that must be shared.
New technologies may, to some extent, also challenge the dominance of powerful corporate or
governmental voices. It is far easier for individuals or small groups to set up web sites or campaign
using SMS messages than it is for them to launch newspapers or television stations. Ultimately,
however, the internet and other new technologies are carried on media (such as telephone lines) that are
owned by governments or large corporate owners.
The regulatory challenge posed by new media so far has been the following: old media can be
regulated in a way that does not constitute censorship and enhances, rather than restricts, freedom of
expression. Such regulation of new media has proven impossible. New media can be regulated, but the
content of the Internet, for example, is so diverse and widespread that regulation has been heavy-
handed and has amounted to censorship: interception of emails, closure of web sites, and pressure or
legal action against Internet service providers.
The Internet, in particular, poses a challenge to traditional views of media conduct in elections.
Election reporting blackouts, for example, have been rendered virtually obsolete by the activities of
unregulated web sites. The characteristic of the Internet that places it beyond regulation is its
international nature. Attempts by national regulators to close down websites are met by the creation of
mirror sites (replicas) beyond the country’s borders.
This regulatory challenge is likely to extend beyond the written word, with the development of Internet
radio and, with time, television. Other variants, such as podcasting – the transmission of audio files –
RSS (Really Simple Syndication) and peer-to-peer networks, will only increase this challenge.

The Internet
The Internet has been hailed as the next revolution in electoral communications, just as it is claimed to
have revolutionized the global flow of information. Already, opinion polls are conducted by Internet
(though one hopes that the findings are treated with extreme caution). Treating such assertions with due
scepticism does not mean dismissing them out of hand - simply taking a sober approach to how the
Internet fits into the overall media structure.
The first point is that the Internet is dependent upon telecommunications - for the most part still land
lines rather than mobile telephony. Two further examples immediately underline the significance of
this. First, there are more telephones in Manhattan than in the whole of Africa. Second, in South Africa,
which has about the eighteenth highest level of Internet connectivity in the world, more than half the
population have never made a telephone call. Put simply, the Internet remains a communications
medium for the relatively rich, rather than the mass of the world's voters. In this it is unlike radio, or
even television, and is likely to remain so for the foreseeable future.
Nevertheless, the Internet has rapidly become a vitally important means of political communication -
witness the lengths that governments such as the Chinese will go to in order to limit access to
"subversive" Web sites. In a context where the conventional media are highly censored, the Internet can
be an important means for small numbers of people to receive politically sensitive information that can
then be more widely circulated. In other words, for most of the globe, the significance is more that the
Internet will enable alternative ideas to be put into circulation rather than serving as a means of mass
communication by parties, candidates, or electoral authorities.
The "convergence" between the technology of broadcasting and that of telecommunications is also
likely to lead to a closer linkage between traditional media and the Internet. Certainly the major
providers in one field can cross easily into the other. Telephony has moved towards the use of
satellites, while broadcasting has moved towards the use of fibre-optic cable. The likely economic and
social consequence is the growth of private media monopolies in the broadcasting and Internet field.
Even in the United States, where Internet use is most widespread, political parties have made
surprisingly little and unsophisticated use of the Internet. The reluctance of modern politicians to
engage in spontaneous interaction with the electorate perhaps explains this. Politicians' Web sites tend
to be the same material that is available in other, more traditional formats, repackaged for the Internet.
Where the Internet has developed faster in relation to elections has been in the material posted by non-
governmental organizations. In the US, this has included searchable online databases that allow the
public to research campaign contributions to the different candidates or to research a politician’s voting
record- developments that can only enhance democracy.
A more problematic development, however, is the use of Internet reporting to subvert conventions that
have been widely accepted by "traditional" media - for example by reporting exit polls before voting
has ended.
An important characteristic of the Internet – good or bad depending on one’s point of view – is the ease
of access of individuals and small organizations. The Internet poses none of the traditional constraints
on publishing: neither expense nor quality control. This has led, for example, to the emergence of
“blogging” (a contraction of the term “Web log”). These independent and often intemperate individual
political diaries have been condemned and praised in equal measure. But they are a political
phenomenon that is here to stay.
Other technological developments within the Internet will also have political ramifications. Really
Simple Syndication (RSS) is a means of disseminating news stories rapidly and at virtually no cost.
Peer-to-peer networks allow the simple, low-cost transfer of large files (such as audio and video files)
to a wide audience. “Podcasting” is a term coined to describe the broadcasting of audio materials over
the Internet (and in theory their downloading to personal stereo players).
The combination of these technologies – such as the syndication of podcasts – has enormous potential
significance. These are media with potentially mass audiences that are beyond the control of any
regulatory authority. This is a largely beneficial development, something that evades censorship and
increases freedom of expression. For example, in Singapore, where the main media are under official
control, the opposition leader has used podcasts to distribute his political messages.
Taken in conjunction with the conventional media, the Internet can only grow in importance. After all,
many journalists now use the Internet as an important source of stories. Electoral authorities
increasingly use a World Wide Web site as a means of publishing information. This will then be picked
up by the conventional media and made available more widely. This is particularly important, for
example, in publishing results. If the Web site can be linked to the results database of the authority's
computer, this will mean that results are publicly available immediately.
The Internet can also be an important way of distributing items such as packages for radio broadcast.
This is a particularly effective way of making programming available to local or regional radio stations
in large countries - Indonesia, for example, has experimented with this approach. This has a potential
use for distributing voter education material or direct access slots.
Sally Burnheim, The Right to Communicate: The Internet in Africa, ARTICLE 19, London, 1999.
(http://www.article19.org.)

Cellular Telephones and Election Campaigning

Cellular telephones are potentially a very important medium for electoral communication, for two
reasons:
• Ownership and access to cellular phones (cellphones, mobiles, handphones….) far outstrips
access to landlines. This disparity is especially apparent in poorer countries, but it is a general
phenomenon
• Cellphones have a potential as a “broadcasting” medium that is not comparable to traditional
landlines. Whereas the landline could be used for voice calls and transmitting documents, the
cellphone can send and receive text messages, audio and video files.
The use of cellphones in political campaigning or broadcasting is not yet well developed, but the
potential is obvious. So far this has focused on the use of text or short messages (SMS). There are two
well-documented examples from the Philippines. In 2001 President Joseph Estrada was forced to resign
after a popular campaign against him orchestrated by SMS. Then, in the 2004 presidential elections,
SMS was a very popular campaigning tool for the main candidates.
It is hard to see how SMS could easily be brought within the regulatory ambit without resorting to
heavy-handed censorship. Also, SMS, like email, can easily be “spoofed”. This means that messages
can be sent from masked or fake addresses (as with email “spam”), making the regulator’s task even
more difficult.
What has so far been confined to SMS could rapidly develop through audio and video files, with the
development of “third generation” (3G) phones capable of exchanging these easily. This is a point
where Internet-based techniques (such as podcasting) and cellular telephony overlap. Political
broadcasts could be distributed by a mixture of media, to be watched or listened to on telephones or
personal stereo players.
These technologies are potentially available to all the players in election campaigns. Parties can use
them to distribute campaign material; media can enhance the audience for their broadcasts; and
electoral managers can use them to educate the public and increase political participation, especially
among young voters.