Governing at a distance – politicians in the blogosphere

Issue title: Political Blogs and Representative Democracy

Article type: Research Article

Authors: Coleman, Stephen^a | Moss, Giles^b

Affiliations: [a] Professor of Political Communication, Institute of Communications Studies, University of Leeds, Leeds, UK. E-mail: [email protected] | [b] Doctoral Student, New College, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK | Institute of Communications Studies, Leeds University, Leeds, UK

Abstract: This paper examines blogs by three senior politicians as examples of governing at a distance. It considers how the translation of policy messages might be supported by what Scannell has called the 'for-everyone-as-someone' structure of communication. Three communicative characteristics of the blogs are considered: politicians' attempts to seem like ordinary people; their efforts to manage time and appear spontaneous; and their claims to be conversing with and listening to the public. The paper concludes by raising questions about the consequences of digitally mediated intimacy for democratic representation.

DOI: 10.3233/IP-2008-0142

Journal: Information Polity, vol. 13, no. 1-2, pp. 7-20, 2008