The impact of Web-based communication on public attitudes and political policy making

(SOS 110) Living in the Information Age Written Assignment 5 Name Institution (SOS 110) Living in the Information Age Written Assignment 5 Introduction Do governments improve their populations’ attitudes towards their leadership by including them in public policies? The pressure between citizens’ duty to participate and their capacity to contribute in democratic public policy decisions has always been a challenge. This owes to the complexity of policy problems and the modern society, which require both expertise and public participation in policy-making and implementation. Consequently, it sufficed to deduce that democratic participation is becoming as an important element as professional contribution in the policy-making process. Yang and Lan (2010) revealed that even though the public may have sufficient knowledge to make useful contributions, it is difficult to involve them in making policies. However, the advent of the internet brought a solution to this problem because it widened public participation. This paper discusses the impact of Web-based communication on public attitudes and political policy-making. The Impact of Web-based Communication on Public Attitudes The use of the internet by involving citizens in making public policies has had a positive effect on the public attitude towards government leadership. In a study by Tolbert and Mossberger (2006), the authors were able to prove the aforementioned effect as a reality. This is because they analyzed the Pew survey data and concluded that visiting local government websites improved the public’s trust in local governments. It is notable that citizens perceived e-government as responsive and accessible at the local level. In addition, the citizens appreciated that the direct link provided by e-government increased the trust of local governments. The authors also suggested that the improvement in the trust in local governments resulted from the improved interactions at the local level. Addi...