We demonstrate that exposure to the news media causes Americans to take public stands on specific issues, join national policy conversations, and express themselves publicly—all key components of democratic politics—more often than they would otherwise. After recruiting 48 mostly small media outlets, we chose groups of these outlets to write and publish articles on subjects we approved, on dates we randomly assigned. We estimated the causal effect on proximal measures, such as website pageviews and Twitter discussion of the articles’ specific subjects, and distal ones, such as national Twitter conversation in broad policy areas. Our intervention increased discussion in each broad policy area by ~62.7% (relative to a day’s volume), accounting for 13,166 additional posts over the treatment week, with similar effects across population subgroups.

https://science.sciencemag.org/content/sci/358/6364/776.full.pdf

How the news media activate public expression and influence national agendas.

The Oregon Citizens’ Initiative Review (CIR) distinguishes itself by linking a small deliberative body to the larger electoral process. Since 2010, CIR citizen panels have been a legislatively authorized part of Oregon general elections to promote a more informed electorate. The CIR gathers a representative cross-section of two dozen voters for 5 days of deliberation on a single ballot measure. The process culminates in the citizen panelists writing a Citizens’ Statement that the secretary of state inserts into the official Voters’ Pamphlet sent to each registered voter. This study analyzes the effect of one such Citizens’ Statement from the 2010 general election. In Study 1, an online survey experiment found that reading this Statement influenced Oregon voters’ values trade-offs, issue knowledge, and vote intentions. In Study 2, regression analysis of a cross-sectional phone survey found a parallel association between the Statement’s use and voting choices but yielded some mixed findings.

Assessing the Electoral Impact of the 2010 Oregon Citizens’ Initiative Review:

Can the people deliberate to set the agenda for direct democracy in large scale states? How might such an institution work? The 2011 California Deliberative Poll piloted a solution to this problem helping to produce proposals that went to the ballot and also to the legislature. The paper reports on how this pilot worked and what it suggests about a possible institution to solve the deliberative agenda setting problem. The legislative proposal passed the legislature but the ballot proposition (Prop 31) failed. However, we show that the proposals actually deliberated on by the people might well have passed if not encumbered by additional elements not deliberated on by the public that drew opposition. The paper ends with an outline of how the process of deliberative agenda setting for the initiative might work, vetting proposals once every two years that could get on the ballot for a greatly reduced cost in signature collections. Adding deliberation to the agenda setting process would allow for a thoughtful and informed public will formation to determine the agenda for direct democracy.

/pdf/deliberative-agenda-setting-piloting-reform-of-direct-5bpp4knaml.pdf

Deliberative Agenda Setting: Piloting Reform of Direct Democracy in California

Deliberative democratic theory has proposed the use of mini-publics to discern a more reflective public opinion, which can then be conveyed to policymakers or back to the wider public. In 2009, the...

Does the public want mini-publics? Voter responses to the Citizens’ Initiative Review:

Democracy without shortcuts

Deliberative democracy by the people themselves is a distinctive form of democratic practice It can be distinguished from deliberative democracy practiced by elites or representatives as well as from other forms of democracy that do not emphasize deliberation In this article I explore ways this kind of democracy can be realized and then inserted into our current democratic institutions The idea is to explore possible entry points in our political system for deliberative democratic designs involving ordinary citizens In doing so I draw on recent experiments with Deliberative Polls and other mini-publics I focus on four entry points: a) the evaluation and/or selection of candidates in the nomination phase; b) the evaluation and/or formulation of ballot propositions; c) public input into policy and legislation; and d) public input into processes of constitutional change

Deliberation by the People Themselves: Entry Points for the Public Voice

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Deliberation by the People Themselves: Entry Points for the Public Voice