Information and political communication in the web age

By: Michele Di Salvo

Narrated by: Virtual Voice

The topic of political communication in the digital age risks falling into the easy traps and simplifications typical of cyber-utopianism, which fascinates both political figures and spin doctors, as well as a public seeking messianic solutions that promise direct participation and grassroots democracy. It is essential to return to a comprehensive consideration of the categories of information through which political communication takes place, and to rethink the web simply as a new medium through which this information is conveyed. I will start with the values of information, particularly political information and communication, addressing terms such as objectivity, impartiality, neutrality, truth and the contribution of the mass media to that set of political values of openness and democratic responsibility that go under the name of “transparency”, and how the media and information not only fail to contribute to political transparency, but actually become instruments of real opacity, if not simulation. A specific role in this mystification is played by television, both through sensationalism and the creation of media events as a tool for political communication, and through a veritable culture of scandal and the consequent blurring of the public/private boundary as a tool of apparent transparency.