Lincoln the Redliner?
Philip N. Howard, in his book, New Media Campaigns and the Managed Citizen explores the concept of political redlining. According to Howard, redlining occurs “when citizens use hypermedia deliberately to construct their informational networks or when campaigns use hypermedia to contextualize the information they provide to a purposefully structured public” (101). Redlining is a word that was previously used to describe the practice of identifying parts of a community that were difficult to serve. These neighborhoods were circled in red and became places where standards of service were lower, where banks provided loans at higher interest rates and where insurance companies would provide uncompetitive rates (132).
Modern political redlining demonstrates three characteristics. It includes determining which portion of the population is less likely to vote and designing information only for likely voters. Also, redlining encompasses the practice of filtering political information for website users who have registered for content. The message a user receives is based on his or her identity which is determined through the manipulation of data. Finally, redlining occurs when individuals favor some information sources over others, for example, by relying on Web rings (132).
Howard uses the concept of redlining to highlight some important ideas. He emphasizes the political implications of this idea. Through redlining a campaign might decline to serve a community if its votes are not in contest in the election. Likewise, redlining is discriminatory and factionalizes the public (133). For example, Howard explains filtering techniques that DataBank.com used as strategy in their campaigns. They focused on humanizing candidates by making the candidate appear similar to the potential voter exposed to a particular message. The message was simplified and several key themes were chosen based on the receiver’s traits. Furthermore, this information was emotionalized based on key words that were chosen based on the identity of the potential voter. Finally, the user is offered an increased status in exchange for participating (82). This reflects Howard’s conclusion that “political campaigns in the United States are increasingly manipulative” (3).
I find this idea analytically useful. Howard’s argument seems to focus on the disadvantages of redlining, as opposed to its possible positive aspects, which might be better expressed using a more positive word, such as “narrowcasting.” I believe that this concept is helpful because it emphasizes a common element found in all three elements of the definition. All three versions of redlining involve a decision to select some information and reject other messages. The idea of redlining highlights the dangers of moving from a mass to individualized campaign and from a more objective to a more partisan political environment.
One assumption that this concept seems to depend upon is newness. The modern form of political redlining appears to be the result of communications technology and the new technology professionals who have become involved in political campaigns. I question whether the modern form of political redlining is completely new. For example, Gary Wills, in his book Lincoln at Gettysburg, suggests that when Abraham Lincoln was campaigning for the Senate he tailored his message based on the region in which he was campaigning. Lincoln’s speeches more strongly opposed slavery when he was speaking in Chicago or in Northern Illinois and his language was more tempered when he was speaking in Southern Illinois. This corresponds to an early form of filtering. Although it was based only on one variable, geographic location, Lincoln filtered his messages and was engaged in an early form of political redlining. I do not believe that this seriously damages Howard’s argument. Howard demonstrates that redlining has become much more significant than it was a few years ago, let alone in the time of Lincoln. However, I am left wondering if redlining is a new practice or simply represents a return to a more partisan form of politics, similar to the political environment in the United States prior to the Twentieth Century.
Finally, this concept suggests a causal relationship that I find fairly credible. Redlining is understood by Howard as potentially leading to disenfranchisement (134). Simply put, some voters do not matter in the world of political redlining and campaigns ignore them. Other voters matter but they receive specific messages. Like Lincoln, politicians who adopt this technique support one set of issues, perhaps abortion and gay rights to one voter and support another set of issues, perhaps union rights and minimum wage increases to another. One question I have concerns what happens when a politician gets caught talking out of both sides of his/her mouth. Howard suggests that this will be uncommon, because many hypermedia users do not even realize they are receiving specially tailored messages. However, the circumstances would seem ripe for a rival politician, or a blogger who supports that politician, to scrutinize these messages of an opponent and uncover contradictions that could be used as political weapons.