Two podcast episodes produced by GJIL researcher Elizabeth Dubois explore the interplay between the news media, politics and the internet.
The episodes are a part of Season 2 of Dubois’ podcast Wonks and War Rooms, where Dubois picks a political communication theory, explains it to a practitioner, and then discusses its utility and feasibility in the world of politics and communications.
One episode features Etienne Rainville, a former staffer at The Hill Times and government relations expert, who chats with Dubois about liquid modernity. They talk about the fast-paced nature of politics, how political actors learn about political issues, and the role of Twitter in Canadian politics and policy-making.
The other episode sees Dubois speak with Sherry Aske, a former CBC multimedia journalist, about the fourth estate, referring to the news media, and the networked fourth estate, referring to the emergence of non-traditional journalistic media on the internet.
Aske and Dubois dive into the origins of theories and the range of information producers that make up the networked fourth estate. They also reflect on the power dynamics at play between actors in the networked fourth estate and what that means for who gets heard in the current media environment.
The other guests featured on the podcast include political staffers, journalists, communication experts, lobbyists, activists and other political actors. Dubois quizzes them on political communications theory and they tell her how ridiculous (or super helpful) that theory actually is.