Canadian Politics

A12(b) - Political Discourse in the Digital Era

Date: May 31 | Time: 02:00pm to 03:30pm | Location: Classroom - CL 435 Room ID: 15762

Chair/Président/Présidente : Jean-François Daoust (Université de Montréal)

Discussant/Commentateur/Commentatrice : Tamara A. Small (University of Guelph)

Gaging Politicization in Canadian Media: The Results of an Expert Survey: Simon Thibault (Université de Montréal), Frédérick Bastien (Université de Montréal), Colette Brin (Université Laval), Tania Gosselin (Université du Québec à Montréal)
Abstract: In the past two decades, the Canadian media landscape has been rocked by controversies following media moguls’ interference - real or perceived - in the content of their media in order to express their ideological and political preferences. Yet, the authors of a classic work on media systems classify Canada among the countries where the news media is strongly insulated from political instrumentalization (Hallin & Mancini 2004: 67, 75). They further suggest that the Canadian media system does not reflect the major ideological and political divisions of the Canadian society (21, 209), in contrast with some European media systems. Conversely, studies on recent developments in the Canadian media scene paint a very different picture, revealing a media environment that is more politicized than what Hallin and Mancini assert (Brin et al. 2015; Hackett & Uzelman 2003; Trimble & Sampert 2004; etc.). Most of these studies, however, are based on content analyses of specific media outlets or regional case studies, and are unable to provide an overall evaluation of the Canadian media system. Using data from an original expert survey, our paper will assess the level of politicization of the Canadian media system. The evaluations provided by scholars in communication, journalism, and political science from 10 Canadian provinces will shed light on the perceived political and ideological orientations of Canadian news media. This will allow us to test Hallin and Mancini’s (2004) much-quoted typology and its relevance in a Canadian context — an overlooked problem in the existing scholarship in the field.

Microtargeting and Polarization: Do Data-driven Communications Impact Political Attitudes?: Mathieu Lavigne (Université de Montréal), Frédérick Bastien (Université de Montréal)
Abstract: Political parties increasingly rely on voter databases to maximise the effects of their communications and to assist them in their "get out the vote" efforts. Many academics make the assumption that this strategy, called microtargeting, increases electoral polarization (Patten 2015; Barocas 2012; Franz 2013; Panagopoulos 2016; Serazio 2014). Continuous exposure to communications that match voters’ ideology or interests may contribute to reinforce their existing political beliefs. Using the 2015 Canadian Electoral Study, we evaluate how microtargeted communications by political parties influence targeted voters’ political attitudes, especially the strength of their party identification, the distance that they perceive between parties and the consolidation of their political support during the campaign. Political strategists or campaign directors reveal that parties generally microtarget voters based on two distinct factors: their predicted support in the election and their propensity to vote. Accordingly, an original index based on voters’ predicted participation and level of support for parties that have contacted them is used as a proxy of microtargeting. Existing literature on microtargeting is largely concentrated on presenting its growing usage and sophistication in political parties or its impact on political participation. However, since microtargeting is becoming an essential part of modern elections, it is important to develop a better comprehension of the effects of this spreading strategy for democratic citizenship and electoral competition.

Canada's Short-lived Digital Empire: Ryan Deschamps (University of Waterloo)
Abstract: Canadians were once the fourth largest population of Internet users (after the United States, Germany and the United Kingdom) in the 90s and are now only a small player on a global stage. Today’s 17th ranked Turkey has more users on Facebook than there are Canadian citizens. Against this backdrop, Canada’s online political cultural has naively presupposed its influence on the global stage. This paper traces a series of online events from the 1990s until the present, using global internet data and historical materials from the early Usenet, Political Party Web Archives and Twitter to examine the way Canadians use a digital audience to promote their favored policy positions. It will take a historical approach, identifying landmarks in Canadian digital history such as the Quebec Referendum of 1995, the controversy around the prorogation of parliament in 2008 and a series of attempts at Copyright reform in 2012-2013 to analyze the approaches actors took to promote their political positions against the Canada’s declining global influence on the Internet.

Inequalities of Participation in the Canadian Democratic System: Edana Beauvais (McGill University)
Abstract: In this paper, I apply the democratic systems framework to the study of political practices in the Canadian context, considering patterns of engagement across a range of political practices. Using Canadian Election Study (CES) 2015 Web Survey data, I use exploratory factor analysis to identify whether political practices – voting in elections, buycotting, protesting, attending a meeting to deliberate, talking about politics or the news with friends and family, using the Internet to be politically active, and so on – load onto underlying factors of political participation. I identify four underlying factors: electoral, participatory, talk-centric, and online political practices. I then describe the extent and correlates of electoral, participatory, talk-centric, and online political practices. My aim is to identify the extent to which social group memberships and differences in political attributes (such as political interest and knowledge) contribute to asymmetries of engagement in different political practices in the Canadian democratic system. My work answers two questions: Who is participating in Canadian political practices? Do structural inequalities suppress participation in all political acts, or do these factors suppress certain modes of participation more than others? While existing research considers whether asymmetries structure Canadians’ electoral and participatory practices, my work represents the first overview of Canadians’ talk-centric engagement and offers an updated look at variation in Canadians’ online engagement. Identifying asymmetries of engagement in political practices is a necessary first step to bringing Canadian democracy closer to the regulative ideal of equal political participation.