ABSTRACT
The question of whether the new media have the potential to overcome young people’s low levels of participation in the political process contrasts strongly with more traditional framings of the relation between mass media and participation. Typically the media have been held partly responsible for low participation rather than being seen as offering a way forward. It is thus commonly claimed that ‘media culture generally, with its emphasis on consumption and entertainment, has undercut the kind of public culture needed for a healthy democracy’ (Dahlgren, 2003: 151; see also Putnam, 2000). This widespread suspicion of the mass media has a long history which is strongly if implicitly encoded in our present-day tendency to oppose mediated communication with face-to-face communication, judging the former as inferior by comparison. Cultural norms of authenticity, equality, trust, and accountability are all grounded primarily in face-to-face communication and so are routinely questioned in relation to the mass media.
