I’ve just returned from a two-day conference in Amsterdam, organised jointly by Amsterdam University’s School of Communication (ASCOR), which is the biggest communications school in Europe, and Leeds University’s Institute of Communications Studies (ICS), which is the biggest communications school in the UK. We were talking about the changing nature of political communication. Not only new media effects, but other ways in which democratic citizenship and its mediation are changing. It was a very intellectually productive conference – unlike so many others that leave one feeling frustrated and powerpointed into total numbness. I think that it would be useful – and perhaps provocative – for me to use this space to make a few comments about how I think citizenship is changing in the twenty-first century. I will know whether this makes any sense to anyone by the flood or dearth of subsequent responses.
So, point one: I think that the rules of the political game are changing in three ways. Political representatives are now more visible and reachable than ever before. They are being judged less on the basis of ideology or even policy than personal persona and integrity. And citizens expect to be able to influence them in more ways than very occasional voting. These three changes are forcing smart politicians to adopt new stategies, often utilising new media technologies to manage their visibility, appear human and suggest that citizens can influence them.
Point two: these strategies often don’t work, partly because they are not entirely intended to work. That is to say, politicians are not convinced that they need to take the new rules of the game seriously, even when they realise that there are new rules and they ought to be seen to be doing something.
Point three: citizens are more bewildered than ever. At least the old rules were clear: you voted; you crossed your fingers and hoped for the best; you voted the rotters out if/when you caught them being rotters. Now the rules seem to be different, but are unexplained. What should citizens expect from the new political-communication environment? This is about more than producing codes of conduct – although one or two well-designed codes of digital citizens’ rights wouldn’t be a bad idea.
Final point about this (for now – but we have a week to develop these points): all of this is happening at a time of profound social risk. In past times politicians not only knew the rules of the game, but also believed they understood most of the issues that were confronting them in the policy arena. Now they understand neither very well. New rules; new issues – could lead to a horrible mess; could lead to some creative thinking and policy-making. What do you think?
