Digital Information Technologies and Democratic Discourse : American Public Culture and Political Character

Colleen Elizabeth Kelley and Michael J. Miller explore how democracy both functions and falters when media, politics, and rhetorical discourses collide.

Democracy thrives on information and public engagement. Digital spaces and technologies, while significantly enriching our cyberculture and playing a crucial role in our interconnected global system, have introduced significant threats to our democracy including misinformation, privacy concerns, and public polarization as platforms emerge as increasingly powerful intermediaries. Examining discursive manifestations of these problematic intersections during the 2024 presidential election cycle, Kelley and Miller demonstrate the impact of digital media and a digitally disrupted political ecosystem on democracy in the United States.

Kelley and Miller provide a salient reminder that political frameworks – especially democracy – are mediated systems constituted and agreed upon through communication behaviors. Our political future, they contend, can still be shaped by the people.