Exploring digital news, advocacy networks and social media campaigns ‘for’ and ‘against’ cannabis legalisation during New Zealand’s cannabis legalisation referendum

Rychert, Marta; Wilkins, Chris; Sanden, Robin van der; Prasad, Jitesh

doi:10.1080/09687637.2022.2090897

Cited by 3 publications

(1 citation statement)

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“…These connections provide digital meeting points to promote industry-friendly narratives. The nature and frequency of digital networking by the AOD sector are starting to be studied, and social network analysis is a useful tool for understanding how industry connects with influential stakeholders and mobilises on social media in times of heightened legislative activity (Haupt et al , 2021; Rychert et al , 2022).…”

Section: Online Networking With Politicians and Key Stakeholdersmentioning

confidence: 99%

Editorial: AI and new digital technologies have transformed alcohol and other drug industries lobbying

Rychert,

Sultan,

Mialon

2024

DHS

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Section: Online Networking With Politicians and Key Stakeholdersmentioning

confidence: 99%

Editorial: AI and new digital technologies have transformed alcohol and other drug industries lobbying

Rychert,

Sultan,

Mialon

2024

DHS

Self Cite

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Referendum Campaigns in Hybrid Media Systems: Insights From the New Zealand Cannabis Legalisation Referendum

Rychert

Wilkins²

2023

MaC

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During New Zealand’s 2020 cannabis legalisation referendum, advocacy groups on both sides widely debated the issue, utilising “older” and “newer” media channels to strategically influence voters, including through appearances in traditional media and paid advertising campaigns on Facebook. Comparatively little is known about the campaign strategies used by each camp and how they leveraged the hybrid media environment to advocate for their positions. We analyse the cannabis legalisation referendum campaigns using primary data from our digital ethnographic study on Facebook, a systematic quantitative content analysis of legacy media websites, and a review of published reports from other authors. We show how positive sentiment towards cannabis law reform in the traditional media was amplified via referendum campaigners’ activity on Facebook. While campaign expenses on both sides were similar, money was spent in different ways and via different mediums. The pro-legalisation campaign focused more on new digital media channels, while the anti-legalisation campaign diversified across a range of mediums, with greater attention paid to traditional political advertising strategies, such as leaflets and billboards. The New Zealand case study illustrates how greater engagement with the “newer” media logics may not necessarily secure a favourable outcome during a national referendum campaign. We discuss how the broader media and political environment may have influenced campaigners’ choices to engage (or not) with the different media channels.

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Referendum Campaigns in the Digital Age: Towards (More) Comparative Analyses in Hybrid Media Systems

Udris

Eisenegger²

2023

MaC

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Referendum campaigns, which happen in many countries on the national or sub-national level, are highly important and special periods of political communication. Unlike elections, however, referendum campaigns are understudied phenomena. This thematic issue addresses patterns of referendum campaigns, which increasingly take place in digital and hybrid media environments, where political actors conduct campaigns through various channels, news media react to and shape debates on social media, and citizens receive a large share of political information from traditional and digital media. In this editorial, we provide a short overview of how research on referendum campaigns has evolved and how it has started to shift its attention away from news coverage and toward the role of campaign actors and the citizens who use (or engage with) search engines and social media platforms. The articles in this thematic issue reflect this shift but also show that news media remain important actors in referendum campaigns. Finally, we outline further research steps, which should include even more holistic analyses of the hybridity of referendum campaigns and hopefully more comparisons across cases.

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Exploring digital news, advocacy networks and social media campaigns ‘for’ and ‘against’ cannabis legalisation during New Zealand’s cannabis legalisation referendum

Cited by 3 publications

References 32 publications

Editorial: AI and new digital technologies have transformed alcohol and other drug industries lobbying

Editorial: AI and new digital technologies have transformed alcohol and other drug industries lobbying

Referendum Campaigns in Hybrid Media Systems: Insights From the New Zealand Cannabis Legalisation Referendum

Referendum Campaigns in the Digital Age: Towards (More) Comparative Analyses in Hybrid Media Systems

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