This book illustrates how social media platforms enable us to understand everyday politics and evaluates the extent to which they can foster accountability, transparency and responsiveness. The first part focuses on accountability and tests whether the offline behavior of politicians is consistent with their online declarations, showing that textual analysis of politicians’ messages is useful to explain phenomena such as endorsements, party splits and appointments to cabinet. The second part concerns responsiveness. By means of sentiment analysis, it investigates the shape of the interaction between citizens and politicians determining whether politicians’ behavior is influenced by the pressure exerted on social media both on policy and non-policy issues. Finally, the book evaluates whether a responsive behavior is successful in restoring online political trust, narrowing the gap between voters and political elites. The book will be of use to students, scholars and practitioners interested in party organization, intra-party politics, legislative politics, social media analysis and political communication, as well as politicians themselves.

Increasingly governments around the world are experimenting with initiatives in transparency or 'open government'. These involve a variety of measures including the announcement of more user-friendly government websites, greater access to government data, the extension of freedom of information legislation and broader attempts to involve the public in government decision making. However, the role of the media in these initiatives has not hitherto been examined. This volume analyses the challenges and opportunities presented to journalists as they attempt to hold governments accountable in an era of professed transparency. In examining how transparency and open government initiatives have affected the accountability role of the press in the US and the UK, it also explores how policies in these two countries could change in the future to help journalists hold governments more accountable. This volume will be essential reading for all practising journalists, for students of journalism or politics, and for policymakers.

A state-of-the-art account of what we know and do not know about the effects of digital technology on democracy.

This book analyzes the impact of social media on democracy and politics at the sub-national level in developed and developing countries. Over the last decade or so, social media has transformed politics. Offering political actors opportunities to organize, mobilize, and connect with constituents, voters, and supporters, social media has become an important tool in global politics as well as a force for democracy. Most of the available research literature focuses on the impact of social media at the national level; this book fills that gap by analyzing the political uses of social media at the sub-national level. The book is divided into two parts. Part One, “Social Media for Democracy” includes chapters that analyze potential contributions of social media tools to the realizing of basic values of democracy, such as public engagement, transparency, accountability, participation and collaboration at the sub-national level. Part Two, “Social Media in Politics” focuses on the use of social media tools by political actors in political processes and activities (online campaigns, protests etc.) at the local, regional and state government levels during election and non-election periods. Combining theoretical and empirical analysis, each chapter provides evaluations of overarching issues, questions, and problems as well as real-world experiences with social media, politics, and democracy in a diverse sample of municipalities. This volume will be of use to graduate students, academicians, and researchers, in several disciplines and fields, such as public administration, political science, ICT, sociology, communication studies and public policy as well as politicians and practitioners.

Bringing together both leading international scholars and emerging academic talent, Media Accountability in the Era of Post-Truth Politics maps the current state of media accountability in Europe and provides fresh perspectives for future developments in media and communication fields. As the integrity of the international media landscape is challenged by far-reaching transformations and the rise of "fake news," the need for a functional system of media regulation is greater than ever. This book addresses the pressing need to re-evaluate and redefine the notion of accountability in the fast-changing field of journalism and "information provision." Using comparative research and empirical data, the book's case studies address the notion of media accountability from various perspectives, considering political and societal change, economic, organisational and technological factors, and the changing role of media audiences. By collecting and juxtaposing these studies, the book provides a new discussion for the old question of how we can safeguard free and responsible media in Europe - a question that seems more urgent than ever. Media Accountability in the Era of Post-Truth Politics is an essential read for students and researchers in journalism, media and communication studies.

This book analyzes the relationship between media power and democratization in transitional societies based on a case study about TV Globo, Brazil's largest media group.

There is growing recognition of the need for new approaches to the ways in which donors support accountability, but no broad agreement on what changed practice looks like. This publication aims to provide more clarity on the emerging practice.

'Everyone agress that news media cannot be rued solely by the profit motive and that government regulation on media is extremely dangerous. How then can we obtain good service from news media? As far as ethics is concerned, can we depend on the moral conscience of the professionals to insure good service? The answer is M*A*S, nongovernmental media accountability systems. This book concentrates on M*A*S as one of the three pillars of good news media, together with free enterprise and state regulation. It presents general information about the major media accountability systems and their usefulness (press council, ombudsman, journalism review, etc.).--COVER.

Media accountability is back on the political agenda. This book advances research on media accountability and transparency, and also offers perspectives for newsrooms, media policy-makers, and journalism educators.