Boosting Newspaper Sales

It seems that newspaper sales in the UK are falling and the trend is accelerating. Will Interactive Democracy boost demand for news? I think it could. The idea is that empowerment of voters generates its own demand for information.

There may also be an opportunity here for newspapers to sell political advertising. Interactive Democracy may cause a wholesale change in political financing as those advocates with money can focus their resources on specific issues, instead of political parties, perhaps by spending on advertorials in newspapers.

More from The Guardian here and here.

Making the Media Interactive

I hope that the media, especially the press, radio and TV news, would see the merit of publishing details of ePetitions and Public Ballots. These could include new ePetitions, the top 10 by number of signatures and all upcoming Public Ballots. I think it would add immeasurably to the success of Interactive Democracy and to the content of their services. It may even attract more readers, listeners and viewers and therefore more advertisers.

This will provide endless topics for their opinion leaders and political analysts.

Perhaps because of political bias, the media may not agree with this. In which case the government may consider to wield its power and legislate that news media must publish or broadcast these details. Or they may demand that it is only mandatory for the BBC.