Power Shift? Political Leadership and Social Media

Richard Davis is Professor of Political Science and Director of the Office of Civic Engagement at Brigham Young University, USA. He is the author of several books on the Internet and American politics including Twitter and Elections Around the World: Campaigning in 140 Characters or Less (2016), Covering the Courts in the Digital Age (2014), The Symbiotic Relationship Between the U.S. Supreme Court and the Press (2014), and may more. David Taras is Professor of Communication Studies and holds the Ralph Klein Chair in Media Studies at Mount Royal University, Canada. Before coming to Mount Royal, David taught at the University of Toronto, the University of Amsterdam and, most recently, the University of Calgary, where he served as the Ernest C. Manning Chair in Canadian Studies. While there, he received the Students' Union Award for Teaching Excellence five times and was inducted into the Teaching Excellence Awards Hall of Fame in 2011. He was President of the Canadian Communications Association and served two terms on the Board of Governors of the University of Calgary. He received the Alberta Centennial Medal in 2005. A leading expert in the area of Canadian media policy and its relationship to Canadian identity and democracy, he is the author of The Newsmakers: The Media's Influence on Canadian Politics (1990) and of Power & Betrayal in the Canadian Media (2001). He is co-author of The Last Word: Media Coverage of the Supreme Court of Canada (2006).