Preview: Elections and media in digital times

The increasing digitalization of societies has led to unprecedented opportunities to seek, receive and impart political information and ideas, which are the lifeblood of elections. The internet has made it easier for politicians, political parties and the electorate to communicate with each other more directly and more quickly than at any point in history. The accuracy of information can be checked and corrected faster, more thoroughly and by a greater number of actors than ever before. But there are also growing concerns about the effects on public debate arising from misuse of digital technologies and fragmentation in the communications environment. Political micro-targeting of individual voters is driven by aggregated personal data, which is not always obtained in lawful ways. Little effort is required to generate disinformation and for it to go viral. New digitally-enabled tactics in political funding, campaigning and advertising, often lacking in transparency, reduce the transparency of information during elections. Meanwhile journalists, whose output can empower the electorate, are under increasing attack.