Information dissemination

Disseminating campaign information is considered to be the most long-standing, fundamental campaign practice (Farrell & Schmitt-Beck, 2002; Foot & Schneider, 2006; Lilleker et al., 2011). Ultimately, election campaigning aims to influence voters’ decision-making process and, with that, tries to maximise votes. Campaign information plays a critical role. As Zaller (as cited in Farrell & Schmitt-Beck, 2002, p. 183) explains, ‘every opinion is a marriage of information and predisposition:

information to form a mental picture of the given issue, and predisposition to motivate some conclusion about it’. This is confirmed by empirical research, which suggests that voting behaviour is strongly affected by the awareness and knowledge of political parties or candidates, and, more importantly, their causes.

Such awareness and knowledge is formed by the availability and quality of information about political parties or candidates from sources such as election campaigns (Farrell & Schmitt-Beck, 2002; Hoff, 2012; Schmitt-Beck, 2004). Thus, in order to shape voters’ awareness, opinions, knowledge, and, most importantly, decisions, campaign teams benefit from producing, disseminating, and reinforcing campaign information in a timely fashion (Bimber, 2001; Hoff, 2012; Holbrook, 2002; Schmitt-Beck, 2004).

McAllister’s (2002) research on voting decision and behaviour during national elections in the US, Australia, and the UK between the late 1940s and 2000 points out that the number of swing voters increased, especially in Australia and the UK.

Swing voters are the ones whom most parties and candidates endeavour to woo throughout an election period, and they are most responsive to campaign information (Lachat & Sciarini, 2002). Lachat and Sciarini further suggest that although some voters have formed their voting decisions before the campaign period, their decisions are still subject to change as a result of increased campaign information.

Voters’ active political participation is crucial to election campaigning and campaign information serves as a vital stimulus (Bimber, 2001; Ward, Owen, et al., 2008). In other words, the greater amount of campaign information being disseminated, the more stimulated voters could become to get involved in different campaign activities.

Generally, information dissemination is undertaken through a one-way, top-down approach – from political parties or candidates to voters. That is, no feedback or information from voters is expected (Farrell & Schmitt-Beck, 2002). This important characteristic distinguishes information dissemination from another campaign practice, namely voter interaction and engagement.

In traditional election campaigning, campaign information is mainly disseminated through political news or talk shows on television or radio; campaign advertisements on television, radio, or newspapers; direct mails; and interpersonal interactions with voters such as rallies, telephone, or door-to-door canvassing (Anstead & Chadwick, 2009; Denver & Hands, 2002; Norris, 2002).

However, those traditional means of information dissemination present various obstacles or issues to political parties or candidates. Notably, they not only consume a substantial amount of campaign resources but also constrain parties’

or candidates’ control over what campaign information is disseminated, as well as when and how (Farrell & Schmitt-Beck, 2002; Ward, Owen, et al., 2008).

It is believed that ICTs are able to alleviate those typical obstacles associated with information dissemination in traditional campaigning. More specifically, it is held that ICTs provide a relatively cost-effective platform or channel for parties and candidates to disseminate information; more importantly, ICTs provide parties or candidates with greater autonomy to determine what campaign information is

disseminated, as well as when and how (Foot & Schneider, 2006; Gibson & Ward, 2000a, 2000b; Ward, Owen, et al., 2008).

Content elements associated with information dissemination. The following content elements are commonly associated with information dissemination:

political party’s information; candidate biography; press releases; policy statements; campaign news; campaign events; speeches; contact information; and information relating to the political party’s other online presence, if any (e.g., Foot

& Schneider, 2006; Foot et al., 2007; Gibson & McAllister, 2008; Gibson & Ward, 2000b; Hooghe & Vissers, 2008; Schweitzer, 2011; Ward, Gibson, et al., 2008).

Generally, the practice of information dissemination is considered to be highly standardised due to its long existence (Lilleker et al., 2011). However, technological advancement enables parties and candidates to innovate the dissemination of campaign information in order to generate and sustain voters’

interest (Lilleker et al., 2011). Two instances are noteworthy, the first pertains to campaign blogs and the other the use of Internet multimedia technology.

Originating from web blogs, campaign blogs are online journal entries posted by political parties or candidates to communicate with voters (Graf, 2008; Karpf, 2008; Maguire, 2008). In contrast to campaign information disseminated in campaign websites, information disseminated through campaign blogs is succinct and focused, which typically pertains to political views and issues, and campaign news and events (Graf, 2008). It is worth noting that campaign blogs can be static or interactive, depending on the authors’ intention (Ward, Gibson, et al., 2008).

That is, if a campaign blog is utilised for the sole purpose of providing static information, it is considered to be an element of information dissemination; if a campaign blog is utilised for generating feedback from voters in addition to information dissemination, it is accordingly considered to be an element of voter interaction and engagement.

It is found that most parties’ and candidates’ campaign blogs are static as opposed to interactive, owing to their concern over attracting undesired feedback, such as attacking comments from their political rivals and supporters of their rivals (Ward, Gibson, et al., 2008). Also, campaign blogs are often text-based (Ward, Owen, et al.,

2008). An alternative to text-based blogs is video blogs, which disseminate the same type of campaign information in a different form – video as opposed to text (Anstead & Chadwick, 2009).

Since the increasing penetration of broadband Internet from the early 2000s, information dissemination in e-campaigning has started to move beyond the text-based format. More specifically, campaign teams utilise Internet multimedia technology to disseminate campaign information in order to enhance the sophistication of this campaign practice (Hooghe & Vissers, 2008; Schweitzer, 2008a); for instance, images are used for depicting campaign events, audio or video for campaign speeches, or campaign advertisements on television or radio.