THE IMPORTANCE OF COLLATERAL COMMUNICATIONS AND DELIBERATIVE DISCOURSE IN BUILDING INTERNET-BASED MEDIA REFORM MOVEMENT

Mark Cooper
Free Press and CIS, Stanford Law School

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     Last modified: May 6, 2005

Abstract
The 2004 election makes it clear that American politics now stands at the intersection of physical space and cyberspace. By mapping the functions of the Internet into the political realm, this paper identifies the potential for Internet-based, media reform groups to spearhead fundamental political change.

These groups are critical to change because mass media play a large role in the political process. Ironically, a generation ago conservatives used alternative media and means of communications – talk radio and direct mail – to rebound from a stunning electoral defeat and the leaders of the conservative revolution recognize that the Internet provides progressives with an opportunity to do the same.

Political groups center on core values (e.g. labor unions on economic values, conservatives around anti-communism and moral values) that meet certain needs of their constituency. They create supporting social relations and become politically active to defend their interests and extending their values in society.

At one level, the Internet is merely a more efficient way of conducting physical space politics that reinforces functions like fund raising, outreach and coordination in largely one-way applications. But, the critical issue is not what the Internet can do for politicians, rather what Internet-based organizations can do for their members. The Internet’s revolutionary impact will be felt if its two-way communications characteristics can be institutionalized around much more than better dissemination or even enhancing citizen ability to speak politically by opening lines of communication with elected officials. It can fill a deep-seated desire for communications and political participation by building relations between group members and mobilizing them in collective action.

Collateral communications and collaboration bind individuals to these organizations, particularly when they are enhanced with deliberative, democratic governance. Lessons from cooperative organizations and peer-to-peer network enhance our understanding of the institutional possibilities for Internet-based political organization building.