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The crisis in public communication and the pursuit of authenticity: an analysis of the Twitter feeds of Scottish MPs 2008–2010

journal contribution
posted on 2023-06-08, 20:01 authored by Mark Margaretten, Ivor GaberIvor Gaber
Twitter has made deep inroads into political communications over the past three years. It allows for endless real-time worldwide discussions, and is increasingly being used by politicians to engage citizens. However, this article considers how and whether Twitter opens up possibilities for gauging ‘authentic’ dialogue between politicians and citizens. ‘Authentic talk’ has been identified as ‘spontaneous, unrehearsed discourse’, and we suggest, in the context of crisis in public communication and its lament about the current state of political communication, that it may be an important component in the reconstruction of political trust between politicians and people. This article examines Twitter's use in presenting to citizens an ‘authentic’ view of Scottish Members of Parliament (MPs) and its conveyance of trust. In order to identify authentic talk, a content analysis has been undertaken on the entirety of Scottish MPs' tweets (n= 14,066) between 25 December 2008 (the earliest recorded tweet made by a Scottish MP) to 7 August 2010. Using bespoke content analysis software we mine this data set to identify occurrences of both authentic discourse and civic engagement. The findings conclude that authenticity is being conveyed and is quantifiable, opening a new avenue for the study of crisis theory.

History

Publication status

  • Published

File Version

  • Published version

Journal

Parliamentary Affairs

ISSN

0031-2290

Publisher

Oxford University Press

Issue

2

Volume

67

Page range

328-350

Department affiliated with

  • Music Publications

Full text available

  • No

Peer reviewed?

  • Yes

Legacy Posted Date

2015-02-13

First Compliant Deposit (FCD) Date

2015-02-13

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