SEEKING UNMEDIATED POLITICAL INFORMATION IN A MEDIATED ENVIRONMENT: The uses and gratifications of political parties' e-newsletters

Abstract

Political parties are increasingly attempting to communicate to sections of the electorate directly, in order to relay targeted messages. E-newsletters are one key communication mode that facilitates this strategy, and previous research indicates that these, like many communications using information and communication technology, offer much potential for the sender. This research focuses on the receiver, explicitly taking a uses and gratifications approach to understanding the function of e-newsletters for the UK electorate. Our findings suggest that the majority of receivers are committed party members who desire to receive information directly from the party that will help them in their campaigning and activist roles. There is, however, a minority of less-active, politically interested, subscribers who also use e-newsletters to aid their voter choice. The data suggest that e-newsletters are able to encourage subscribers to develop and build relationships with a political party, possibly becoming more active in their support than simply offering a vote at election times.

Keywords:

• Uses and gratification theory
• UK political party e-newsletters
• UK political communication
• online political activism

Notes

1 According to the Electoral Commission Register of Political Parties April 2003. Available online at http://www.electoralcommission.gov.uk/regulatory-issues/partylinks.cfm (accessed 1 April 2003).

2 It might seem odd that parties used a freely available e-newsletter to reach party members and supporters. This can be explained by the fact that for those parties who use a pass-protected e-newsletter, it attracted mostly committed activists. The publicly available e-newsletter attracted less motivated and committed party supporters.

3 These were: newspaper reports; television reports; radio reports; party political broadcasts; bulletin boards; party manifestos; street stands; political meetings.

4 Both parties are mass electoral parties, contesting each constituency in England, Scotland and Wales; though the Liberal Democrats have less representation in parliament they can command support of around 20 per cent of the electorate at times. Furthermore, as opposition parties their methods of communication are more limited than those of a party in government, therefore we selected them as they argued that e-newsletters were a key means of communication. Labour use email as a promotional tool but do not provide regular e-newsletters.

5 On average the Conservative Party sent out their e-newsletters monthly; the Liberal Democrats use a more pragmatic approach and send them out whenever they have a message they want to communicate. This disparity is common: some parties, such as the Democratic Unionist Party, produce daily e-newsletters (Jackson 2004).

6 One of the features of e-newsletters is that it is very easy to unsubscribe. As a result we can assume that if gratifications were not being met, eventually subscribers would unsubscribe.