On Political Epunditry

Abstract

The concept of ePunditry is developed as a lens through which to view the important phenomenon of political blogging. Three conceptual frameworks were selected for their relevance to the idea of computer-enhanced commentary: the information society thesis, the notion of the fifth estate and its relationship with the fourth, and the increasingly celebrated ideal of deliberative democracy. The empirical content of the inquiry comprised interviews with 27 political bloggers, ranging from prominent British figures such as Guido Fawkes and Iain Dale to lesser-known practitioners located as far afield as Lebanon and Trinidad. The article evaluates their responses in light of the conceptual frameworks. It deduces that, while not giving rise to a knowledge class or a fifth estate, the new forms of punditry have made a significant contribution to a technologically enabled democratic politics. The conclusion is that ePunditry represents a useful construct for journalism studies.

KEYWORDS:

• deliberative democracy
• epunditry
• fifth estate
• information society
• opinion

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I am grateful to Dr Eve Forrest for conducting the interviews reported here, as well as to the interviewees for freely giving their time. The paper was extensively revised after rigorous criticism by anonymous reviewers.

DISCLOSURE STATEMENT

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Arts and Humanities Research Council [grant number AH/K002899/1].