Assessing the implications of online mass media for citizens’ evaluations of government

Abstract

When assessing the potential of information and communications technology (ICT) to improve relationships between citizens and their government, public management research tends to focus on government applications of ICT and neglects implications resulting from private actors use of ICT. Given the rapid growth in private online mass media outlets over the past decade, this negligence is problematic because it biases our understanding of the implications of ICTs for citizens’ relationship with government. This paper discusses how the proliferation of online mass media outlets may influence citizens’ evaluations of their government. In doing, two key points are distilled. First, as the number of mass media outlets increase online, citizens will tend to access information that reaffirms their expectations of government. Second, as citizens’ access a narrower range of content that reinforces their expectations of government, frequency of access may play a more pronounced role in explaining variation in citizens’ evaluations of government. The paper concludes with a discussion of implications.