The Myth of Digital Democracy / Matthew Hindman.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Hindman, Matthew, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Internet--Political aspects--United States.

Internet in political campaigns--United States.

Political participation--United States.

Political participation--Political aspects--United States.

Political participation.

Internet in political campaigns.

Internet--United States.

Internet.

Local Subjects:

Internet--Political aspects--United States.

Internet in political campaigns--United States.

Political participation--United States.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (198 p.)

Place of Publication:

Princeton, NJ : Princeton University Press, [2008]

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Is the Internet democratizing American politics? Do political Web sites and blogs mobilize inactive citizens and make the public sphere more inclusive? The Myth of Digital Democracy reveals that, contrary to popular belief, the Internet has done little to broaden political discourse but in fact empowers a small set of elites--some new, but most familiar. Matthew Hindman argues that, though hundreds of thousands of Americans blog about politics, blogs receive only a miniscule portion of Web traffic, and most blog readership goes to a handful of mainstream, highly educated professionals. He shows how, despite the wealth of independent Web sites, online news audiences are concentrated on the top twenty outlets, and online organizing and fund-raising are dominated by a few powerful interest groups. Hindman tracks nearly three million Web pages, analyzing how their links are structured, how citizens search for political content, and how leading search engines like Google and Yahoo! funnel traffic to popular outlets. He finds that while the Internet has increased some forms of political participation and transformed the way interest groups and candidates organize, mobilize, and raise funds, elites still strongly shape how political material on the Web is presented and accessed. The Myth of Digital Democracy. debunks popular notions about political discourse in the digital age, revealing how the Internet has neither diminished the audience share of corporate media nor given greater voice to ordinary citizens.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Contents

List of Illustrations

Acknowledgment

One. The Internet and the ''Democratization'' of Politics

Two. The Lessons of Howard Dean

Three. ''Googlearchy'': The Link Structure of Political Web Sites

Four. Political Traffic and the Politics of Search

Five. Online Concentration

Six. Blogs: The New Elite Media

Seven. Elite Politics and the ''Missing Middle''

Appendix. On Data and Methodology

References

Index

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 23. Mai 2019)

ISBN:

9786612964671

9781282964679

1282964674

9781400837496

1400837499

OCLC:

701704259