Public E-pinion

“Public E-pinion”Digital Media’s Impact on Public Opinion Formation Mark Hannah, Edelman SNCR’s NewComm Forum 2008

Yours Truly

The Agenda

Beyond Evangelism & Apocalypse Democratizing Imposing a information “digital divide” Making our kids Making our kids smart dumb Improving well‐ being by increasing Vitamin D access to health deﬁciency information

Impact Evident

In America, there cannotbe enough of knowledge,for all knowledge benefitsboth those who possess itand those who do not. - Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America

The Internet Increases… ing‐ Political Knowledge Read sive n inte Political Discourse Political Interest

But What of Civic Engagement?“Respondents who say they rely primarilyon the Internet for news are less likelythan other Americans to volunteer, tospend time with friends, to trust oneanother.” - Robert Putnam, Bowling Alone (2000)

Cui Bono?

I’d argue … Online Offline Political PoliticalEngagement Engagement

“Public sentiment is everything. With publicsentiment, nothing can fail. Without it, nothing can succeed.” – A. Lincoln

MediaFragmentation Selective Consumption Cognitive Reinforcement Group Polarization

The Response – Part 1 –  “If people want to confirm own prejudices, they’re better able to do that than they were before.. but the upsides [of the blogosphere] definitely outweigh that. ” –  “There are a lot more sources of information than there ever were before…If you’re really interested in substance, there are more places to go now. If you’re interested in horserace coverage, there are plenty of places you can go too.” –  “This is a self‐organizing medium where high quality content will filter out away from garbage. It’s better to have a huge market deciding what’s good or useful and not some executives sitting in an office in Manhattan.” –  “Objectivity was always something of an illusion. MSM will still swear they’re objective. But there seems to be more ‘topping off’ by reporters because they go on these pundit shows ‐ and the Internet is part of this… everyone is a pundit now. Newsweek and Washington Post reporters will go on Keith Olbermann and play ball with him. So this exposes the point of view of reporters.”

The Response – Part 2 –  “New media has better built in accountability measures. The wisdom of crowds phenomenon is a built in advantage ‐ because you have a larger sample size ... why is reporter good at picking representative voters? Isn’t better to have a blog on politics where a hundred people sound oﬀ? When reporters ‘crowd source’ blog comments, it forces them to be more transparent.” –  “I’m concerned that it appears we are heading toward a video‐ centric web [where broadband yields web‐integrated television].... that kids might grow up looking at the Internet as just another video portal and that the current interactivity of the web may wane.” –  [Regarding youth and civic engagement ]: “Young people don’t feel like they have to convince elites that they have a say. It’s part of the backtalk that’s come to be expected, and part of the reason MSM is so beleaguered… Some things merit a lot more accredited or elite opinion, but not politics or civic discourse.”

Mark Hannah Edelman, public aﬀairs mark.hannah@edelman.com 212‐704‐4514 (oﬃce)

Public E-pinion

by Society for New Communications Research (SNCR)

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Public E-pinion Presentation Transcript

Public E-pinion

by Society for New Communications Research (SNCR)

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Public E-pinion Presentation Transcript

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