<
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2025/apr/22/moral-panic-about-new-media-influence-on-young-voters-underplays-their-interest-in-politics-creators-say>
"Young Australian voters “do actually care” about politics and current affairs,
Konrad Benjamin tells
Guardian Australia. “Aussie punters are not
disengaged,” he says. “Most of the corporate media and politicians just refuse
to talk about the big, systemic things that are broken, and how we can fix
them.”
The creator behind
Punters Politics, with 400,000 followers on Instagram, is
a popular source of information in the lead-up to the federal election,
according to responses to the
Guardian Australia young voter callout. He is
one of a lineup of independent commentators and journalists creating content on
platforms such as Instagram, YouTube, TikTok and Twitch that people told us
they are turning to for political information.
While most respondents to our callout indicated they rely on a mix of social
media and traditional media for news, influencers and experts have observed a
“moral panic” about the increase in young online creators engaging in politics.
For at least 20 years, young people have been moving away from formal politics
– such as joining a political party or a volunteering organisation – and
towards “issues-based” politics, says Prof Philippa Collin from Western Sydney
University. Collin researches the role of the internet in the political lives
of young people.
“It’s pretty common that it has been interpreted as young people not being
interested or involved in civic engagement or political participation,” she
says.
But research points to an increase in participatory politics, where young
people “feel a responsibility to do something about the issues that they see in
the world, or that affect them directly”, Collin says.
“They want to have more of a say, and to influence the world around them. They
are facing a lot of really big issues, which they haven’t played any part in
creating … Think about the housing crisis, or the climate crisis, or various
conflicts, or the general state of the economy.”
At the same time, young voters have grown up with the internet. Legacy media
organisations are increasingly crafting and distributing media in new formats
on new platforms, but there are already young creators on those platforms
dedicated to particular issues – whether that be groups with a particular
focus, such as sustainability and climate, or citizen journalists who “perhaps
don’t even have a journalism background, but become important educators”,
Collin says."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
