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Conclusions While the Internet has been touted as opening new realms of communication, especially in the political field, the Internet media in 1996 generally reflected the traditional news media in coverage of the presidential election. However, while the focus of the media has not changed from TV and newsprint to the World Wide Web, the depth of the coverage available to browse has been of major significance.
The advent of the Internet Age, especially the rapid expansion and
popularization of the World Wide Web, has brought more information to the
fingertips of more Americans than ever before in history. A technical manual
for Internet publishers notes that "Computers make it easier for us to store,
generate and manipulate information, but they do not do anything that wasn't
possible before."30 If this view of
the information revolution is correct, then we are not likely to see any change
in the way users approach sources of information on the Internet. This has
certainly been the case so far, as users have stayed on the new electronic
territory staked out by familiar, established broadcast and print media
organizations.
Because the number of voters who used the Internet for political information
during the 1996 election cycle is so small, its impact is hard to judge.
Although some congressional races were allegedly decided by the presence of
candidates' web sites, the Internet probably had very little effect on the
outcome of the presidential race. On-line user voting patterns fell within
several percentage points of the overall vote, so however it did effect users
did not greatly influence their votes in one direction or the other.
However, the Internet certainly has influenced the political activities of
those who are using it. Internet users feel more connected with political
issues, they feel better informed, and they are distributing more political
information and contacting government officials more frequently than their
off-line counterparts. Younger voters, who account for a large portion of the
on-line population and are generally the least politically active segment of
society, have especially been impacted by this new technology. While there
hasn't been enough research done to make any clear-cut conclusions about the
impact of the Internet on political campaigns and election outcomes, the
evidence available seems to show that the Internet has the potential to
increase awareness and involvement across the board.
If the Internet continues the rapid growth that it has experienced in the last
year, there will be thousands more citizens coming on-line every day. As they
start to use the Internet, they may also begin to use it more and more
frequently of political purposes. If so, this trend of increased involvement
could have an effect across the political landscape.
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