From Broadcast to Netcast

The Internet and the Flow of Political Information

Ph.D. Dissertation in Political Economy and Government, Harvard University, 1997

Written while a Research Associate, MIT Artificial Intelligence Laboratory

Introduction

"Because communication is the fundamental social process, because man is above all an information-processing animal, a major change in the state of information, a major involvement of communication, always accompanies any major social change." - Wilbur Schram

The flow of political information is a vital process in the political system. Individuals, organizations, and governments depend on accurate and timely information to make decisions and coordinate their activities. The complexity of the political system requires political actors to gather information from beyond their immediate environments. Communication media such as newspapers, television, and the telephone are the channels through which this information is gathered.

As the ability of communication media to transmit information changes over time, so does the flow of information. New media enable actors to gather information from new sources in new locations, often in less time and at less expense.

The Internet is a “unique and wholly new medium of worldwide human communication” that enables political actors to transmit information at a low cost independently of time and distance (U.S. District Court 1996). The unique transmission capabilities of the Internet alter the flow of information between individuals, within organizations, and throughout society. This alteration in the flow of information suggests an alteration in political behavior as well. The scholarly literature demonstrates a relationship between the flow of political information and political behavior.

In particular, information has been found to be an important factor in political participation, political cognition, public opinion, political meaning, and political discussion.

The relationship between media, information, and behavior is summarized in Figure 1. Political information is an intervening variable between communication media and political behavior. Differences in the ability of communication media to transmit information produce differences in the flow of political information. In turn, these differences produce differences in political behavior by affecting individuals, organizations, and communities’ knowledge and understanding of political actors, events, and processes. Use of the telephone, for example, allows citizens to transmit information immediately over large distances. The telephone produces a different flow of information than the postal service, which takes much longer to transmit information over the same distance. By distributing information more rapidly, the telephone enables citizens to respond to political crises or emergencies that would otherwise be missed.

Understanding the effect of the Internet on political behavior using the media/information/behavior model requires answering four questions:

How does the Internet differ from other media in its transmission of political information?
How do these differences in transmission affect the flow of political informationamong political actors?
Which political actors are affected by the changes in the flow of political information?
How do these changes in the flow of political information affect political actors’ behavior?

Political science has been slow to take up these questions. Only one panel at the 1996 American Political Science Association Meeting addressed the Internet directly and as of July 1996 the major political science journals had yet to publish an article on the effect of the Internet on the political process.

This dissertation intends to remedy this gap in the literature by examining the first three questions and developing an understanding of the first half of the media/information/behavior chain. By exploring the connection between media and information, this dissertation should assist future researchers complete the chain by answering the fourth question and exploring the connection between information and behavior on the Internet.

The hypothesis tested in this thesis is that the unique properties of the Internet create new channels for political communication between political actors. Prior to the Internet, political actors
were restricted by the one-to-one transmission of personal media and the high costs and one-to-many transmissions of broadcast media. As a result, there were few channels of
communication between citizens and political organizations. The press served as a gatekeeper, gathering information via personal media, filtering that information, and
broadcasting it out again to its citizen-audience. This broadcast structure of political communication, depicted on the left side of Figure 2 below, exhibits a limited set of
channels for political communication.

The Internet differs from other media in its transmission properties. Unlike personal or broadcast media, the Internet is a many-to-many medium, supporting communication among group members. Unlike broadcast media, the Internet has low setup costs and supports two-way, interactive communication. Unlike many other media, the Internet is very rapid and the cost of transmission is virtually independent of distance or location. Finally, the Internet’s use of digital information allows for manipulation and processing of the information along the transmission path.

These differences between the Internet and other media open new channels for communication among political actors. Political organizations are able to communicate directly with each other, bypassing the press as an intermediary. Citizens are able to communicate interactively with existing broadcasters and many political actors become their own broadcasters. Finally, new network-based channels open

alongside existing channels, supporting a greater variety and flow of political information. Together with the existing channels of the broadcast structure, these new network channels create a new Netcast structure depicted on the right in Figure 2.

The flow of information in the Netcast structure differs from the flow in the Broadcast structure. Analyzing the unique properties of the Internet in combination with the social characteristics of political communication yields the following hypotheses about the effects of the Internet on the flow of political information:

An all-channel structure of political communication in which all political agents are directly connected to each other
Disintermediation, i.e. bypassing of traditional intermediaries, and a shift from gatekeeping to brokering for these intermediaries
Formation of virtual organizations based on shared interests rather than shared geography
Integration of social and issue networks, such that personal relationships form more easily around political issues and personal relationships are enhanced in existing issue-oriented networks
Greater propagation of political information through duplication and retransmission between social networks across weak-tie relationships
Increased volume of political information
Integration of personal, broadcast, and network media either simultaneous transmission, repackaging, and rebroadcast
Resource bias in who uses the Internet for political communication towards those with higher income and education
Heterogeneity of sources for political information, expanding the diversity of opinion to which citizens have access and may be exposed
Narrowcasting of customized and targeted messaged to specific communities of interest

Introduction
Communication Media
Communication Structures
Mailing Lists
Usenet Newsgroups
Online Petitions
World Wide Web
White House Electronic Documents
Political Participation
Conclusion
Sources

Engaging Executives

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