Political Communication in the Electronic Age Essay

Political Communication in the Electronic Age - Essay Example Few people write letters or read the newspapers anymore as these are seemingly archaic methods of communication and have the added disadvantage of costing money, regardless of how little this sum might actually be.   â€Å"Nowadays, we think nothing of emailing our aunts in Germany and getting an answer back within minutes, or seeing the latest streaming video full of up to the minute news† (Boswell, 2006).   Neither letter-writing nor newspaper delivery can provide the instant information that is today essential for businesses in the modern world to compete effectively and simply a fact of life that is taken for granted for most in the developed world.   This fact alone has changed the way in which the politicians of the world must reach out to their constituency if they expect to gain support.   People, the public at large as well as politicians, are now turning to alternative forms of receiving information, such as blogs, video blogs, webcasts, chatrooms and listser vs.   However, this introduces new challenges in determining just how to determine credible sources from noncredible and just how far the internet should be allowed to go in terms of free speech and expression.   Decency, censorship, free speech, ethicsOne of the controversial aspects of the internet and instant posting is that the internet provides a means of gathering news that has not necessarily been filtered through the many regulations and restrictions imposed by national or state boundaries.   This is primarily due to the fact that the internet itself is not regulated.