Online claims-making: The NRA and gun advocacy in cyberspace

Abstract

This article examines the Internet’s emergent role in the claims-making process. My central premise is while Internet technology provides lay citizens with a mass mediated platform to distribute claims publically, power dynamics in the public sphere have remained relatively stable: Insiders and lobbyists continue to be powerful cultural voices; the press still functions as a cultural gatekeeper of newsworthiness; most people continue to have relatively little social authority; and the least powerful risk being completely left out of a digital society. Using the NationalRifle Association (NRA) web presence as a case study, I describe the Internet as a vast collection of interconnected public cyber-arenas where problem claims are continuously disseminated, global communication is facilitated via online advocacy networks, and claimants utilize novel cyber-strategies to mobilize supporters. In doing so, I examine how cyber-arenas fundamentally differ from more static traditional claims-making arenas like television, radio, and print publication. I conclude by considering the extent to which historically powerful insider claims-making groups like the NRA are actually best positioned to succeed in a supposedly democratized new media world.