The Role of Online Media in Politics

Abstract

With the advent of modern information and communication technologies, and in particular with the internet, the longstanding relationship between media and politics has undergone profound changes. Never before was the flow of political information as strong as today. However, an ever growing part of this information is not produced by traditional media outlets, but by online channels of information (the blogosphere, Twitter, Facebook,YouTube etc.). The quality of political information produced by online media and channels of diffusion is, however, not always accurate and balanced. The phenomenon of political misinformation "from below" (and contrary to the role of propaganda "from above") is not sufficiently explored by political science, sociology, communication studies and journalism studies. In this panel we seek theoretical as well as empirically grounded papers that address questions such as how does the internet affect the quality of political information?; how does the internet change deliberation in the online public sphere?; how does online media consumption affect public opinion formation? what are the consequences of misinformation, hoaxes and rumors for elections and more generally for politics?

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