GE2011: The internet election that wasn’t
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GE2011: The internet election that wasn’t
By Jeanette Tan | Yahoo! Newsroom – 4 minutes 0 seconds ago-
Senior research fellow Tan Tarn How presenting the findings of the key study at the IPS session on Tuesday. (Yahoo! photo/Jeanette Tan)
While this year's General Election was often touted as an "Internet election", findings from a recent study show that new media may not have been as decisive a factor in the polls.
A study by the Institute of Policy Studies (IPS) found that 70 per cent of respondents relied on the mainstream media news coverage for election-related information during the campaign period.
Of the remaining 30 per cent, most also read traditional mainstream media, online and/or offline, alongside political blogs, such as The Online Citizen and Yawning Bread, and Facebookposts.
The study surveyed 2,000 Singaporeans representative of the country’s population by phone over three months following the conclusion of the parliamentary polls in May.
Researchers also found that the time respondents spent on traditional media was significantly higher than that spent online, from 12 minutes spent listening to the radio each day to about 32 minutes spent watching television, compared to between 3 and nearly 8 minutes spent online.
Even when online, about 33 per cent of respondents said they turned to traditional media websites compared to just over 20 per cent of respondents who said they read Facebook and/or blogs.
Yet, the study's researchers -- IPS deputy director Arun Mahizhnan, senior research fellow Tan Tarn How and director of the Singapore Internet Research Centre at Nanyang Technological University(NTU) Ang Peng Hwa -- stressed that while findings showed the GE was not an "Internet election", it does not mean policymakers and politicians should ignore citizens who obtain their news from the internet.
Tan said, “I think (the internet) had an impact, and the impact leading up to the election was very deep. It changed the way people think about issues, and opened up new possibilities in communicating about them.”
The study showed that readership for alternative news online is on the rise, with a growth of about four per cent between October 2010 and March 2011.
Those who read alternative sources of online news -- three in 10 of the respondents -- were also found to be younger, more educated, and were from households with higher incomes.
And while they were more likely to disagree on politics and found traditional mainstream media less trustworthy, they were also less cynical of Singapore politicians compared to the 70 per cent of the respondents who relied on the mainstream media.
“30 per cent is quite a hefty percentage,” said IPS director Janadas Devan. “And it will be a growing portion. It will grow because the profile is younger and better educated; that segment will grow."
“This impression we have that the Internet is what shifted this election, I don’t think that’s the conclusion,” noted Devan. “But whether it had an effect on the margin, I’m sure it did. It was significant, but it was not decisive.”
The findings, released on Tuesday, was part of a series of 11 studies led by IPS together with a dozen researchers from several other institutions including the National University of Singapore, NTU andSIM University.
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What to do when people love the controlled media!
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yes. the 30% who voted correctly.
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2,057,690 voted
2,012,976 voted correctly
44,714 did not vote correctly
http://www.asiaone.com/News/AsiaOne+News/Singapore/Story/A1Story20110508-277686.html
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Still internet is not the force that will sway the votes ya.
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its the youngsters who surf internet, but the majority of population are those senior citizens. they are not IT savvy, so they dun surf internet. in another 20 years, the current younger generation will turn grey, see how it goes in future GE, in about 5 GE's from now.
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Originally posted by Rooney9:
but the majority of population are those senior citizens. they are not IT savvy, so they dun surf internet.
Those are the PAP votes.
Ironic that english educated are turning against the PAP, while those uneducated or chinese educated are still supporting them.
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Originally posted by Rooney9:
its the youngsters who surf internet, but the majority of population are those senior citizens. they are not IT savvy, so they dun surf internet. in another 20 years, the current younger generation will turn grey, see how it goes in future GE, in about 5 GE's from now.
Yes, the pattern will be changed. Now, we have older groups that still reply on words of mouth, papers, and tvs.
If pap still dont help or rather if pple still feeling struggling in trying to put 3 meals on the table, trying hard to pay off loans and ever increasing of bills, they boiled and will finanlly vote pap out.
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it'll take at least another 20 yrs for things to change. for better or for worst nobody can say for sure.
lets hope the opposition can attract more 'capable' candidates.
i personally only have confidence in WP.
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Originally posted by dragg:
i personally only have confidence in WP.
Seems like only they have the strength to challenge PAP in long term.
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Be carefull about loose association.
About 30% voted for the opposition
About 30% are young and get their information from the net.
Don't link the two together. Have to further sub divide the latter 30% to find out how many from there voted the PAP or the Opposition.
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Originally posted by Dalforce 25:
Seems like only they have the strength to challenge PAP in long term.
I am adopting a wait and see attitude towards WP since they have made known they will not form a government. Later to this, someone from WP said they are into forming coalition with PAP.
Wait and see, time will tell.
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Originally posted by dragg:
it'll take at least another 20 yrs for things to change. for better or for worst nobody can say for sure.
lets hope the opposition can attract more 'capable' candidates.
i personally only have confidence in WP.
lets hope more doctors, lawyers, engineers, scientists, bankers, accountants etc, see it their duty and take up the challenge of challenging the PAP's as opposition. at the moment, its the PAP who are able to attract talent rather than the opposition en mass.
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I am excited about the next GE. I want to see Potong Pasir is it still in PAP hands or Chiam's wife, Lina. I also want to see if WP is able to retain Aljunied. If they do, I like to see another GRC falls to opposition. Hougang, most likely will be retained by WP.
the best case scenario is this, 2 GRC's (Aljunied & hopefully East Coast) and 2 single seat (potong pasir and hougang) in the next GE.
