Lisbon Treaty Referendum and the role of Internet / Non-MSM

[Papinian]

I would be interested in thoughts on the role (if any) that the internet and the non-mainstream media will play in influencing the result of the Lisbon Treaty Referendum.

The Amsterdam Treaty Referendum was in 1998, and I don't think the internet played any role at all. Perhaps the internet played some role in the Nice Treaty Referenda, but in the last three or four years the role of the internet and non-mainstream media in Ireland has become greater.

[lostexpectation]

much less then bloggers/forum editors like to think.

I think that Libertas pawns of NATO thing was one of the few examples of the internet chatter generating a story, picked up by MSN via Lucinda who picked it from discussion here and other blogs as much as indymedia. But it was still a minor story that involved heavy internet users on all sides.

I think the no vote is there among the non-webby population it won't be generated by the geeks.

[seabhcan]

More important than the internet, I think Tesco's promotion of 500 sheets of paper for €4.99 is a great boost for the No side's leafletting campaign.

Every little helps.

[jjcarroll]

I had thought the internet- bloggers and fora like this - might play a role in the whole debate - or at least be more invovled than was the case in the election. However, I haven't really seen much evidence of that to date.

[constitutionus]

i wouldnt be sure it has any influence at all.

its just a nice open medium wherein people can say what they actually feel instead of having to put up with the predictable mainstream media coverage and detached opinion whom to be honest most people dont trust enough to answer truthfully to when questioned which way they'll vote for fear of PC judgement.

take this site. theres an awfull lot of party men and women and political anoraks on this site yet consistantly the poll we started on which way posters are gonna vote has maintained a 56 to 57% majority for a no vote result for most of the four or so months that its been running. thats in direct variance of ANY poll done by the "respectable" leading papers yet increasingly its looking to be the case that that'll be the result of the referendum. i may be going out on a limb there but end of the day its the closest thing to an anonymous vote that we've got ala the real referendum and it clearly show people NOT voting the way their political leaders want them to.

simply put it think its just a really good way of gauging public opinon and as such is a good resource for information.

look at it this way, theres a broad section of ALL society on the internet from millionaire business people to scumbag scammers posting in a chartbusters store. and as such you get a much wider perspective and flavor to the contributions which stands in stark contrast to the tired cozy and lets face it lazy hack journalism that afflicts the national media which is almost entirely staffed by trinity/ucd heads who've only associated with at BEST 10t to 20% of the nations population in terms of demographics simply due to the fact thats the total number of people that went to college with em.

chuck in the now patent agenda's that "journalists" have to follow to keep the boss sweet and you find more and more people turing to alternative media to try and get the facts as opposed to the spin. im a "NO" voter but ive seen far more robust debate here on the treaty that ANYWHERE else in the media and theyre the feckers that are supposed to inform us. also there is something to be said for honest opinon as opposed to paid colum inches. the majority of people on the net post because they want to not because theres a salery in it and that does add a different slant.

so its an outlet, not a truely influential or coercive force. at least IMO.

[lostexpectation]

the real reason that the internet has affected american politics is that a lot of the big blogs are directly associated with donation drives, we don't that have that kind of system here.

[corkman2007]

constitutionus - your claim about the Lisbon poll on this site isn't very well founded. The demographics of this site don't reflect the demographics of Irish society at all.

p.ie is overwhelmingly male and there are other features of its demographic that mean it's not representative of the Irish electorate.

I wouldn't count on the reliability of polls here at all: look at the Ken v Boris poll. About 67% of the votes in favour of Ken Livingstone, the rest for Boris Johnson.

In reality, the vote of London's electorate is split down the middle, it's closer to 50-50.

Now I know that's a British election, but it shows that p.ie posters are not representative of public opinion.

[ibis]

the real reason that the internet has affected american politics is that a lot of the big blogs are directly associated with donation drives, we don't that have that kind of system here.

Really? But isn't that how Libertas is funded?

[lostexpectation]

the real reason that the internet has affected american politics is that a lot of the big blogs are directly associated with donation drives, we don't that have that kind of system here.

Really? But isn't that how Libertas is funded?

i tell you after the referendum campaign...?