Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
FINAL ASSIGNEMENT
Mediatization of Politics: The Role of ICTs in Women Empowerment
Rschenschmidt Christine
Strati Maria
March 2014
Uppsala
Table of Contents
Introduction ................................................................................................................................................................................. 3
Theoretical Framework ............................................................................................................................................................... 5
I.
II.
III.
IV.
Methodology ............................................................................................................................................................................... 9
Conclusions ............................................................................................................................................................................... 12
References ................................................................................................................................................................................. 15
Introduction
Media and especially social networking platforms formulate an essential part of daily life. In
specific, the media landscape affects the relations between individuals, organizations and other
kinds of social institutions, such as politics. Moreover, media influences the behavior and
communication practices between individuals and organizations. In general, the concept of
mediatization describes the strong influence of media on the society (Hjarvard, 2013).
Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) are one of the most important
mediatization components since they lead to the emergence of new communication norms. It
could be asserted that the modern society has profited from the rabid development of ICTs in the
fields of communication, information spread and networking. However, the modern society
should face the emerging challenges of the information society, such as the increased dependence
of society on internet access and adequate computer skills (Miller, 2011). Precisely, on the one
hand some social groups that are limited represented in the political life, such as women, could
be empowered through ICTs to advocate and promote their concerns by producing and sharing
information. On the other hand, some individuals might be excluded from the online debate,
either because they do not have access to internet or they do not know how to use ICTs or they
are not aware of the communication rules within the online communities (Van Dijk, 2012). For
instance, women have less digital skills and fewer opportunities for computer training in
comparison to men. As a consequence, women could be excluded partially from online debates
and content generation (Ramilo et al., 2005).
Our study was focused on the following research question: could ICTs operate as a tool
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for women empowerment and active political participation of women in the decision-making
procedures? The study has focused on the above question for the following reasons. Firstly,
women are usually excluded from the political debate due to the existing social infrastructures
and cultural norms. In specific, women are still a minority in decision-making bodies in many
parts of the world, i.e. Europe, USA, Africa, Asia, even though they constitute almost 50% of the
whole population1. One of the main assumptions of the study is that new media technologies may
function as a gathering space where women may express their concerns and debate about topics
that directly concern them. Moreover, stakeholders and organizations related to women
empowerment may exchange ideas and good practices. The main research goal of this paper was
to examine the role of ICTs in women empowerment within the framework of the mediatization
of politics.
The topic has been studied theoretically and empirically. The theoretical background is
based on the concepts of mediatization and network politics2. The empirical part of the study has
been based mainly on participant observation. In specific, the topic was studied
(n)ethnographically by participating actively and following the activity of the Facebook page of
the European Womens Lobby's (EWL)3. (N)etnography is a research methodology which
permits us to understand individuals behavior in the online environment (Miller & Horst, 2012).
Specifically, we have been observing the activity within the Facebook page of the EWL for one
month (17 February- 14 March 2014). In addition, the research data have been complemented by
three synchronous facebook-chat interviews with three active female community members and
an asynchronous email interview with the communication officer of the EWL, Elvira Buijink.
The EWL is the biggest European network of organizations and associations dealing with gender
issues and womens rights. The EWL aims to promote womens rights and gender equality. In
addition, among the main goals of the EWL is to endorse the participation of women in decisionmaking and raise awareness about the issue of women violence.
Firstly, the theoretical framework will be presented. The basic concepts which will be
discussed are media logic, mediatization, news media production, ICTs and gender, network
politics and the role of ICTs in women empowerment. Secondly, the methodology part will be
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Theoretical Framework
I.
between institutions (mezzo level) or in society at large (macro level) (Schillemans, 2012; Krotz,
2007; Thorbjrnsrud et al., 2012). As it has previously been mentioned, the empirical part of the
research was focused on the facebook page of the EWL. The particular case study is focused on
the micro level and the interaction between individuals and ICTs.
The emergence of new media technologies altered the communication practices between
individuals and institutions. Furthermore, the online media technologies influence the content of
traditional media channels since individuals are highly exposed to the online environment at a
daily basis. In other words, it could be highlighted that the new media and communication
technologies are omnipresent (Lundby, 2009), intertwined with social life practices and the
production of news media both online and offline.
Specifically, Strmbcks (2008) model portrays the evolution of mediatization and its
impact on politics in four phases. The first phase takes into consideration the mediation of
politics, a factor that establishes media as the primary information source. The second phase
suggests that the dependence of media and politics becomes stronger. Then, in the third phase
political institutions start incorporating the demands of media logic in their working routine. In
other words, political institutions tend to communicate based on news criteria and journalistic
deadlines. Finally, in the fourth phase, the political institutions adopt the media logic. One of the
major effects is the influence of media on the agenda setting, i.e. development of political ideas
and priorities (Hjarvard, 2013). Nevertheless, the relation between media and politics is more
complex since there are different types of dependence between media and political institutions
(Hjarvard, 2013).
In the information society both traditional and new media play an important role in
formulating the power structures in the political arena. Politicians, organizations and political
leaders who have no presence in the media landscape do not exist in the consciousness of the
general public (Castells, 2013). The production of news media and framing may influence the
political discourse online and offline (Schultz; Suddaby; Cornelissen, 2014) by shaping the
views of the citizens. Cook (1998) suggests that new media may influence politics and also that
the new media are more independent from political institutions in comparison to traditional
media. Additionally, Cooks (1998) analysis affirms that new media have become a sort of
political institution within the society. In consequence, the political stakeholders should adapt to
the cultural norms of new media platforms. New media technologies provide a unique
opportunity to users to produce, share and consume content simultaneously (Van Dijk, 2012).
Individuals who participate in online debates may exchange views and develop their arguments
about different political topics. Moreover, individuals may communicate directly or indirectly
with several organizations and decision-making bodies.
News media production about politics may shape the perception of citizens about
decision-making bodies and organizations, i.e. national parliaments. In specific, the generation of
news media is based on a set of guidelines of what kind of message should be disseminated and
how. The main objective of the news media is to target a certain audience, i.e. citizens and
policy-makers(Pallas; Jonsson; Strannegrd, 2014). Apart from journalists, there are also other
players in the field of news production, such as PR and communication experts (Hjarvard, 2013).
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News media production is more oriented towards gaining legitimacy than providing accurate
information (Schultz; Suddaby; Cornelissen, 2014). Organizations which have a general goal to
promote a specific cause, such as women empowerment tend to focus the production of news
media on the principles of volume and timing so that to acquire legitimacy. Volume refers
basically to the production of stories about an organization based on the principles of media
landscape, i.e. exposure and visibility (Caroll&Deephouse, 2014). Timing concerns the time
frame in which the topic that is going to be broadcasted is still relevant (Schultz; Suddaby;
Cornelissen, 2014).
III.
IV.
New media technologies such as blogs, websites, facebook, twitter a.o. play an important role in
shaping the political debate and democratic procedures both online and offline (Van Dijk, 2012).
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The newness of new media (Van Dijk, 2012), i.e. interactivity, digitalization, computing,
convergence and storing, permit users to generate, distribute, share and consume content
simultaneously regardless of time and space. Moreover, citizens may express their concerns and
exchange opinions about the ongoing political debates. Online communities could function as a
gathering space of likeminded people and organizations (Miller, 2011). However, some online
political debates, such as gender equality, are more popular than others because they are discussed
extensively in media and also form part of election campaigns.
Women empowerment refers to the importance of increasing womens power and control
over their decisions and issues that influence their lives, such as participation in politics. Having
access to internet and also the necessary digital skills could be two of the major components of
women empowerment in the modern society since they participate in online debates on gender
equality. In general, each individual has the need to belong to a group of people with whom s/he
shares common concerns (Miller, 2011). As a consequence, some individuals who advocate for
specific issues, such as gender equality, may feel more confident to share their views about
womens issues within a community of likeminded people. The online space may empower those
individuals to produce information and advocate about gender issues because they feel that there
are other people with whom they share similar concerns (Miller, 2011).
ICTs may endorse the active participation of women in politics for the following reasons.
Firstly, ICTs will enable women to access important information about social and political topics
that directly affect their professional, private and social life. Secondly, a higher level of
information and knowledge may urge women to participate actively in politics by producing and
consuming content within the online environment. Thirdly, the ICTs may give a strong voice to
women, to advocate about gender issues and political representation of women in decisionmaking bodies. Moreover, ICTs can be a very important tool for women who are limited
represented in the political discourse, both in developed and developing countries. Several
successful initiatives showed that women can be empowered socially and politically thorough
ICTs (Ramilo et al., 2005:6f ;Heyzer, 2010: 1f).
Methodology
The research methodology was based on (n)ethnography and interviews. As it was mentioned
before, (n)ethnography is a research tool which permits us to observe and draw conclusions
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about the human behavior in the online environment (Miller &Horst, 2012). The research
focused on observing and participating actively in the open facebook page4 of the EWL. The
EWL is a network of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) dealing with gender equality,
women right and combat of womens violence around Europe. We have been observing the
activity of the EWL facebook page for one month (17 February- 14 March 2014). The
(n)ethnographic analysis has been complemented with three synchronous facebook-chat
interviews with three female community members. Moreover, it has been conducted an
asynchronous email interview with the communication officer of the EWL, Elvira Buijink.
The content of the facebook page is updated at a daily basis. The posts of the last month
are focused mainly on women representation in decision-making bodies, such as national
parliaments and European Parliament, because the European elections will be held in May 2014.
The posts reflected that one of the goals of the EWL is to empower women to participate actively
in the political life and advocate for womens rights. In general, the discussion tone within the
community could be characterized as civilized, i.e. it has not been observed an exchange of
offensive comments among individuals with different opinions. Another observation is that the
participants are a bit passive since they do only LIKE on the communitys post. Moreover,
they rarely comment and share posts.
One of our research goals was to identify the profile of people who participate in this
community, their motivation and how they got involved with women issues. An interviewee with
migrant background said that she started being engaged on gender equality issues in 2011 after
participating in a workshop organized by Federation of Young European Greens. After this
workshop she began following the EWL on the social networking platforms. Moreover, the
interviewee asserted that she became more interested in the work of the EWL and contributed to
media campaign design addressed to women with migrant background.
The major question of our study was the role of new media technologies in empowering
women to participate in the political life and advocate about topics that directly concern them.
The new media technologies accelerate the communication between individuals and give
opportunities to groups with limited free time, such as women to be involved in political debates
(Miller, 2011). In specific, one of interviewee from Cyprus told us that new media platforms
https://www.facebook.com/pages/European-Womens-Lobby/169340673246?fref=ts
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can spark any debate, as long as it is an issue that citizens are concerned with. The interviewee
added that the increased diffusion of online debates about women representation in decisionmaking institutions in politics attracted the interest of traditional media as well. The increased
production of news media on women representation in political institutions urged the President
of the Republic of Cyprus to have a meeting with one of the most important women initiatives of
the country and discuss about the inclusion of women in policy-making. Nevertheless, another
interviewee claimed that online debates do not have a direct influence on adopted policies and
resolutions since decision-making process has a strong institutional structure.
The law of network externality (Van Dijk, 2012) implies that if a specific social
networking platform is popular then the amount of individuals who would like to join this
platform will increase. As a consequence, most of the individuals choose to debate about gender
issues through facebook because it is among the most popular social networking platforms.
However, one of the interviewee claimed that she prefers to debate about gender issues on twitter
because it is open and it is not obligatory to have a twitter account to observe the trends. She also
claimed that the information on twitter is brief and spreads more quickly. The latter lead to the
conclusion that some organizations intent to be present in several social networking platforms so
that to spread their news media products effectively.
One of the main observations is that the followers of the EWL facebook page are mainly
women and organizations related to gender equality and politics. Women follow the specific
facebook page because they seek for information about topics that directly concern them. The
information could be the views of different politicians on gender issues and adopted policies and
resolution. Moreover, the intercultural aspect of this facebook page may urge the women who are
part of this online community to express and develop many parts of their identity (Miller, 2011).
However, it has been observed that there are also some men who LIKE the specific facebook
page, so, we indented to examine the motivation of a male individual to LIKE and share
content from a facebook page dedicated to women issues. One of the interviewee stated that the
men who participate in the EWL facebook page are aware of social inequalities, so, they would
like to show their solidarity to women. In addition those men aim to sensitize other men about
the issue of gender inequality. Nonetheless, some of the men who follow the facebook page of
the EWL are engaged in political institutions as policy-makers and media institutions as
journalists or communication professionals. However, we cannot draw any conclusion since we
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did not manage to interview any male individual who follows the facebook page of the EWL.
Buijink emphasizes that the online communication strategy of the EWL is oriented
towards the generation and dissemination of online news media content through the official
online channels of the organization, i.e. website, facebook, twitter, flickr, a weekly thematic emagazine etc. EWL is actively present in different networking platforms since each platform
gratifies different needs (Deuze, 2012) so the communication tone in each platform is different.
One of the goals of the EWL is to target different kinds of audiences, i.e. ordinary citizens,
member organizations, journalists, media experts, academics and decision-makers, at an
international level based on the needs of the different kinds of audiences. In addition, the
communication strategy of the EWL has two angles. The first angle highlights how the EWL
debates on behalf of the member-organizations of the network advocating about gender issues,
innovation and policy-adaption taking into consideration the political and media discourse on
gender issues. The second angle illustrates the key role of democratic and transparent procedures
in decision-making and communication procedures because transparency and auditing are two
elements that give legitimacy to an organization. In general, organizations intent to acquire
legitimacy about the way they perform by implementing the appropriate communication strategy
and also by producing news (Pallas; Jonsson; Strannegrd, 2014).
Buijink said that among the social groups that the EWL intends to attract and raise
awareness on gender issues are the young people. A good way to sensitise youth about gender
issues is through the social networking platforms mainly because ICTs have been embedded in
young peoples life since their childhood (Van Dijk, 2012). In addition, young people do not
have a strong interest on politics and democratic procedures (Macitosh; Robsona et al., 2003)
and do not follow political debates. As a result, social networking platforms could function as a
medium to stimulate the interest of young people about politics due to their exposure on new
media platforms.
Conclusions
The strong correlation between media and society lead to the evolution of media as a social
institution so political institutions are urged to incorporate media logic in their routine (Hjarvard,
2013). Specifically, the concept of mediatization of politics illustrates the dependence of political
institutions on media. The interaction within and between political organizations are highly
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