Arguing into the digital void? : on the position of online debates in the local public spheres of four Norwegian municipalities

Winsvold, Marte (author)

With the advent of the Internet, numerous online debate options have been created, giving citizens new arenas of political communication where space forexpression is nearly unlimited. However, if online forums shall invigorate the public debate, the arguments published online must reach outside their initial setting. In this article, the position of newspaper-hosted online forums is studied and compared to the position of letters to the editor in thelocal public spheres of four Norwegian municipalities. The forums' visibility to the public and the degree to which they are paid attention to byother media and by local politicians are used as indicators of their position. Only onetenth of the citizens regularly read the online forums, and when referred to in other media or in politics, they have an agenda-reinforcing rather than an agenda-expanding role. The greatest challenges to the online forums' position seem to be the audiences' perceptions of the quality of the discussion, along with the vast amount of contributions which makes them reader unfriendly.

• Language: English
• Keywords: elektronski mediji, internet, javna sfera, komuniciranje, množični mediji, Norveška, občine
• Work type: Not categorized
• Typology: 1.01 - Original Scientific Article
• Organization: FDV - Faculty of Social Sciences
• Publisher: Evropski inštitut za komuniciranje in kulturo
• Year: 2009
• Number of pages: Str. 39-54
• Numbering: Vol. 16, no. 3
• PID: 20.500.12556/RUL-79544
• UDC: 316.77:32(481)
• ISSN on article: 1318-3222
• COBISS.SI-ID: 29033821
• Publication date in RUL: 30.12.2015

Record is a part of a journal

• Title: Javnost
• Shortened title: Javnost
• Publisher: Taylor&Francis
• ISSN: 1318-3222
• COBISS.SI-ID: 40119808

Secondary language

• Language: Slovenian
• Title: Razpravljanje v digitalni praznini? O položaju online razprav v lokalnih javnih sferah štirih norveških občin

Abstract

S prihodom interneta so se razvile številne možnosti za razprave online, ki so državljanom ponudile nove arene političnega komuniciranja, kjer je prostor izražanja skoraj neomejen. Toda če naj bi spletni forumi poživili javne razprave, morajo argumenti s spleta doseči spletno okolje. Članek proučuje položaj časopisnih spletnih forumov in ga primerja s položajem pisem urednikom v lokalnih javnih sferah štirih norveških mestnih občin. Kot indikatorja njihovega položaja sta uporabljena vidnost forumov in stopnja pozornosti, ki jim jo namenjajo drugi mediji in lokalni politiki. Samo ena desetina državljanov redno bere spletne forume. Ko se nanje sklicujejo drugi mediji in politiki, imajo bolj vlogo ojačitve kot pa razširitve agende. Največja izziva za spletne forume sta percepcija kakovosti med bralci in ogromno število prispevkov, ki forume dela neprijazne uporabnikom.