Community Media and Direct Representation.

This paper examines e-democracy in the era of ‘read-write’ media by comparing the goals and structures of e-government with community-based media initiatives. I draw directly on Steven Coleman’s (2003) finding that political apathy can be attributed to the culture of institutional politics, a culture that alienates large parts of the population within Western democracies. Adequate representation requires that politicians understand the views and concerns of the people they claim to represent. Is this aspect of democracy diminishing? If so, how can politicians access ‘what it feels like’ to be a citizen? How do we know that our concerns are being taken into account? What is the role of the media in this equation? Participatory, community-based media would seem to hold at least a partial solution to this problem as it allows citizens to bring their concerns into the public sphere. Where e-government has chiefly concentrated on the provision of services and community empowerment through policy deliberation, this paper looks at how broader community communication, including personal narrative and stories, may contribute to the project of e-democracy. Participation and representation have become defining issues in a globalising world. As such, the history of community-based media provides some valuable lessons for e-democracy. ..PAT.-Conference Proceeding [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]