Old and New Media and Participation: Czech Republic in 2014 Jakub Macek & Alena Macková Masaryk University

FROM CASE STUDIES TO THE SURVEY Qualitative case studies  topical focus + indicators for survey (New) media audiences abd their transformations The „New and Old Media in Everyday Life“ project Ethnographic inquiries Structuration model of media & concept of media ensemble More than 30 qual. pilot studies carried by grad. students How to ask on media use (New) media in political participation/engagement „Žít Brno“ case Case study on participation/engagement and media use of citizens living in big cities and villages  4 dimensions of „political“ agency (reception, interaction, engagement, participation)  What to focus on and how to ask on participation/engagement

SURVEY DESIGN Three major data chapters: Pilot: September 2014 Demographics Media-related practices Political engagement and participation Pilot: September 2014 Data collection: October / November 2014 N=1998 CAPI (Computer-assisted personal interviewing) Highly structured questionnaire based on filtering keys. Quota sampling (gender, education, age…)

CONCEPTS Media practices – broader, more comprehensive picture Who does what / with whom / when / with what technology Media ensembles Political agency Communicative practices: Reception (where do people get the information + efficacy + interest…) Interaction (do they people discuss politics?) Conative practices: Engagement (how do they engage as citizens, community members) Participation (how do they participate in politics – local and national level)

ACCESS: MEDIA SATURATED SOCIETY Basic description of the technological accsess of the sample? 92 % owns or uses TV set 86 % lives in a place with more one TV set 89 % owns mobile phone / smartphone 41 % owns smartphone, 13 % owns or uses landline 84 % owns or uses PC / laptop 78 % is online 20 % is online while being mobile 41 % uses SNS 38 % uses Facebook, 26 % uses Facebook on daily basis 20 % owns tablet, 5 % ebook,

NON-USERS Age 18-39 vs. 40+

RECEPTION OF NEWS 92 % of the respondents receive news at least once a month, 66 % receive news on daily basis, 5 % never receive any news

RECEPTION OF NEWS 90 % of the respondents watch (other than local) news on TV, 46 % receive news online, 28 % read newspapers

RECEPTION OF NEWS 32 % of the respondents look for explicitly political news

RECEPTION OF POLITICAL NEWS

INTERACTION 15 % of the respondents do not talk about „politics“ at all, 27 % do not talk about it with friends, 88 % do not talk about it online.

ENGAGEMENT Education Indicators: Membership or volunteering in NGO, membership in cultural/community based or sports association, organization of cultural or sports events, membership in party (local) organization, taking part in townhall meetings

ENGAGEMENT(S!) Intensity? Relation between engagement and age is not straightforward: However, the preferred practices vary: Older people prefer traditional forms of egnagement (attending townhall meetings). Younger people engage more in sports / sport clubs. Similarly nunanced relations we encounter in case of education: People with higher education tend to be more engaged – in some particular practices (such as NGOs membership or engagement in sports / sport clubs). However, in case of other practices – such as attending townhall meetings or membership in political parties – the differences are insignificant.

PARTICIPATION Participation – when elections are included as indicators – depends both on age and education. Indicators: EP elections, municipal elections, demonstrations, petitions (offline, online), contacting a politician (offline, online), expression of support / volunteering on campaign / event – both on local an national level At least one activity last year

NON-ELECTORAL PARTICIPATION Focusing just on the non-electoral forms shows that the role of age disappears: in other words, elections make the difference. The sense civic duty?

Emerging questions: How to explain the role of age in the whole story? Apparently age is important both in relation to uses of media (old vs. new) and to engagement / participation. There are at least two (mutually not excluding) hypotheses: H. of “common generation difference” (or, the difference among generations are more or less standard in time – during lifetime the values and preferred agencies change). H. of “old vs. new media difference” (though not the technodeterministic one but rather Williamsian: preference of of mass media is linked with more intensive relation to the imagined communities – that comes with stronger sense of civic duty towards the state and municipality resulting in traditional forms of engagement and participation).