Citizen reporters

In the past, citizens were passive consumers of news and political arguments selected by reporters and editors. If they did not like what they read, heard or saw, they could do no more than chatter about it with their friends and family. Now, they can go on the web and raise the temperature.

By generating unprecedented access to information, that was once available only to journalists, the web has opened the door for an intensive public participation in the political discourse. Anyone can now read up original government reports, examine the past records of candidates, and compare the positions of different formations.

The establishments in democracies can no longer hope to shape the popular debate or limit it by effective interventions in the mainstream media. They will have to find new ways to cope with the emergence of the web as an expansive source of political information and discourse.

The writer is a Professor at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore iscrmohan@ntu.edu.sg