Blog Line

Kudos to “The Agenda”, Ontario public broadcaster TVO’s nightly public affairs program. Last Wednesday “The Agenda” ran a segment debating the impact of social media on politics, particularly the upcoming Ontario election and referendum. I found the segment so engaging that we ran a tape of it at Friday’s GCI staff “Lunch and Learn”. With panelists from both Ontario and the US, the group was divided in their views but the Ontarians seemed to agree that social media had had a limited impact in shaping the debate or outcome of this Wednesday’s election and referendum. The discussion was wide ranging from why the impact was seemingly different in the US from Canada, based on political culture and history, to the fact that we were entering an age of “radical transparency” for politicians. They were divided as to whether this “radical transparency” would be accepted willingingly by politicians and they would modify their behaviours or rather lead to extreme secrecy and highly centralized, scripted communications. A great discussion.