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. [1] 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.
[1] Sally Burnheim, The Right to Communicate: The Internet in Africa, ARTICLE 19, London, 1999. (http://www.article19.org.)
