Blogging elections

When it comes to politics and democracies, the media play an important part in informing the population of important events and moulding public opinion of a political situation. Important to cyberdemocracy then, is the electronic media.

A free and responsible media is essential for any democracy. And I guess you don’t quite get a space more free than the blogosphere. Independent thinkers writing freely about their thoughts and ideas for all to read and respond to.

When it comes to elections, we rely on traditional media to cover the event, comment on its legitimacy, uncover the injustices and announce the final results. But, how different would it be if we bloggers were part of the media team responsible for covering the electoral process.

Matthew Buckland, GM of the Mail and Guardian has proposed this very idea to the Independent Electoral commission for South Africa’s next presidential elections next year. “Blogs open up the space for many different voices to be heard.”

According to Buckland, the IEC has responded favourably, it is now just a question of logistics. He said we it would not be logical to expect everyone with a blog to descend on the elections demanding access and permission to report on events.

It has been suggested that various blog aggregators like Amatomu be used to identify the prominent bloggers who write with authority and have an interest and insight into South Africa’s political landscape.

Great idea! There are reports of the public losing trust in the traditional media and it’s ability to give an unbiased report. Bloggers carry a lot of credibility with their readers and followers. And because blogs allow for a more personal account than traditional media, a whole new kind of media coverage can be seen; coverage that includes independent critique and that has a strong support base that thinks it credible.

But what about the voices still not heard within this great free independent blogosphere? Many of the countries rural areas are unpenetrated by the internet. Their lack of infrastructure already puts them at a great disadvantage, it would be great to hear their voices for change and allow them access to information about their political system and all the players with it.

No one solution can possibly solve all the many problems in this country but allowing more voices to speak on issues is a definite step in the right direction.

The downside to blogging

In the previous post I looked the practice of blogging and how it could improve South Africa’s political landscape and supporter-politician communication. Blogs seem like a great idea, however the idea is not without its faults.

Writing is a skill that needs to be mastered and used effectively by every blogger. A politician who cannot convey their ideas in an interesting and engaging way will not gain the necessary support base to sustain a successful blog.

South Africa has a rather contentious political climate at the moment where the public, and politicians alike, feel a great moral obligation to express their support for one a debate or the other. In such times, how leaders express themselves is of pivotal importance.

Commentary made in any blog is open to the public and there as evidence if one were to claim being misquoted. This means that any responsible leader cannot afford to make somewhat precarious statement like “we are in full support of ____ and we will kill for him if need be!”

Being open to public scrutiny, politicians run the risk of a tarnished image if they were voice statements or present policies that were unpopular. Instead of the flow of information, and communication, being a one way process from the top (political leaders) to the bottom (ordinary citizens), blogs are an open for commentary, criticism and dialogue. A blogger needs to constantly be on top of his game or they could come across as incompetent.

It was suggested that blogs could be used as a platform to present proposed policies and receive feedback from the public before having them implemented. This idea however is not half as feasible as it is idealistic. More transparency in the goings on of our parliament would be ideal, but the deliberative process is a lengthy one. With all the political red tape, getting any project off the ground takes ages. Adding another stage (deliberation with the public) could prove more detrimental than useful.

As noted by Susan Ward of About.com, another downside to blogging is that any blog needs a dedicated team to keep it constantly updated and to engage with user feedback. She says, “a blog that hasn’t been updated for a week is a bad user experience. From the blogger’s point of view, a blog can be time consuming and yet another deadline pressure.”

Any project undertaken, especially in politics, comes with a host of risks and benefits. True leaders are able to balance these out to make the right decision for their people.  The South African government could be far more interactive and could make more effective use of all the services made available by various technological advancements. It would do them a great service to first find a way around these risks.

5 reasons why South African politicians should blog

Abdul Rahman Dahlan, secretary general of the United Malays National Organization party’s youth wing insists that all electoral candidates start blogging. He says, “all candidates must have blogs…If not, they are not qualified to be leaders”.

I came across a blog post by Loic le Meur which showed the same faith in politicians blogging. After reading his list of ’10 reasons why politicians should blog’, I decided to compile a list of ‘5 reasons why South African politicians should blog’.

ONE:  at the moment it is close to impossible to get a hold any political leader, especially the higher up they are in the political ladder. A politician’s blog allows supporters greater access to them. They can post up their speeches and ideas and open them up for comment from the public.

TWO:  when run effectively, blogs are a open forum for debate and criticism. If democracy refers to “a political system in which the supreme power lies in a body of citizens who can elect people to represent them”, leaders need to know what the public is thinking. Open more spaces for disucussion and criticism would serve to strengthen a democracy.

THREE: politicians can use their blog to test, exchange and share their ideas in a decentralized fashion. At the moment, the main source of information is the government’s and the various political organization’s official websites. The problem is, as noted in a previous post, these sites do not often offer effective feedback options.

FOUR: blogs would allow for a shift in the way leaders communicate with their supporters and the rest of the population. Official websites take on a formal tone that reflects not a bit of personality. Blogs, however are laid back and far more personal mediums of communication.

Thabo Mbeki has always been seen to have been an aloof president, without feeling or personality and who never engaged with the masses as is seen in some of Zapiro’s work. Now I’m not saying that a simple blog would have solved all his problems and done away with all criticism, but it would have allowed the public access to a more personal side to him.

FIVE: making use of blogs, other social and mobile media and web 2.0 strategies, politicians can reach a younger audience. Part youth leagues could make use of the ever so popular Facebook to gain support and engagement from the youth. Le Meur argues that “the Internet is the medium of the young” and I can’t say I disagree.

They are however reasons to believe that, especially in South Africa, we still have a long way to go before political blogging can be done effectively. This will be covered in next week’s post.

A Global Voice can be heard

Over the past blog posts I’ve taken a look at (among other topics) the number of issues that hinder cyberdemocracy especially in Africa. The digital divide and the language barrier of the internet as it is are major contributing factors to the low levels of e-political involvement.

A large majority of websites are in English. However a large majority of the world’s population does not have English as their first language and some do not even speak a word of it. This presents an obvious language barrier and obstacle for any non-English speaker wanting to participate as an internet activist.

The digital divide has worked to cut off an entire section of the world’s population. As noted in a previous post, “even in the advent of this great cyber-democracy, those who were marginalized by the politics of the apartheid regime are still marginalized by the politics of this new virtual-democracy”.

But…this does not mean that e-democracy is doomed to fail in Africa. The fact that Africa only makes up 3.4% of the world’s online population does not mean that this 3.4% cannot become internet activists.

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Global Voices is a non-profit global citizens’ media platform that allows everyone the opportunity to raise global awareness about the issues that the mainstream media often forget, or simply choose not, to cover.

They use “weblogs, podcasts, photos, video, wikis, tags, aggregators and online chats – to call attention to conversations… that will help shed new light on the nature of our interconnected world”.

Bloggers spark up conversation, spread information and call on action for their particular regions. A team of translators ensure that all content is available in a wide range of languages like, French, Spanish, Chinese and Bangla. Users are even able set up their own networks which translate content into any language of their choice.

This means that with as little as just a GPRS enabled mobile telephone and basic computer literacy, a small group of women in rural North West province can take part in e-politics by blogging in seTswana. They could express the view of people at the grassroots level and have their content translated into a number of languages for global access.

South African bloggers are regular contributors to the site with debates often started with user comments. Nelson Mandela’s 90^th birthday celebrations, environmental issues, and the International Criminal Court’s charges against Sudanese President al-Bashir are only some of the most recent posts from South Africa.

South Africa still has a long was to go when it comes to internet penetration but that does not mean that e-politics is not a possibility.

Granted, one could argue that with internet access still largely in the hands of the more financially affluent, the politics of the poor and uneducated are still marginalize. However, with the government setting up more Thusong Service Centres, all voices can gradually begin to be heard at the global level.

Same ol’ politrix…just a different shade

Ok, so now we have the Internet, this new technology that’s open to all, allowing everyman expression. That sounds great!

The notion of democracy is based on issues of representation and participation. For any democracy to be strong it needs the masses to be politically active, engage in public debate and be able to express their views and concerns.

The web is an open medium that allows the average man a voice louder and more far-reaching than any other. The gate-keeping mechanisms that come with traditional journalism can be bypassed with great ease.

It’s really simple; you start up a blog about cyber-politics and publish your own work…for free. No printing units, no media houses, no distributors, just you the masses and your opinion.

The connectivity and interactivity of its users allows for networks to be created between users with the same views, interests and concerns.

In my third year politics class, our lecturer went on about how the details of where South African parties get their funding for political campaigns was hidden and near impossible to get a hold of. Clearly he never Google searched “who funds South African politics”.

With the Internet information that was previously, near impossible to get a hold of is now just a couple of clicks away. From who funds local political parties to questioning why the ANC Youth League still exists, it’s all on the net, available to every user.

However this is in no way an answer to the question of political apathy or weak democracies. The Internet is open medium only to those who have Internet access and who are computer literate. A quick glance at local statistics, clearly shows that South Africa is far from celebrating the effectiveness, or even just the birth of cyber-democracy and cyber-politics.

Although Internet use increased from 5.5% in 2000 to 9.9% in 2005, these figures are extremely low. This becomes increasingly apparent when looking at the United Kingdom’s 55% and the United States’ 71% figures. The third world simply does not have the capacity to compete.

South Africa’s illiteracy rate is just alarming. Between six and eight million adults are not functionally literate, never mind computer literate. Statistics show that “65% of whites over 20 years old and 40% of Indians have a high school or higher qualification, this figure is only 14% among blacks and 17% among the coloured population”.

The digital divide speaks heavily to the issues of Internet access and use and to education levels. This means that even in the advent of this great cyber-democracy, those who were marginalised by the politics of the apartheid regime are still marginalised by the politics of this new virtual-democracy.

If democracy is about the majority, then we can only really speak of cyber-democracy when the masses can at the very least send an e-mail with a basic attachment.