Why are some political parties investing in “news apps”?
Earlier this month the Flemish nationalist party N-VA become the third political party to launch it’s own “news app”. Previously the far-right party Vlaams Belang and the far-left party PVDA launched apps giving their angle on the news. The apps are designed to provide party members, sympathisers and potential voters with information about the parties and their positions of a range of issues more quickly.
The political communication expert Reinout Van Zandycke says that another big advantage of the apps is that they enable the parties to quickly check what their supporters think about new policies.
When it launched its app earlier this month N-VA said “Whether you are a party member or not this is pure political pleasure wherever and whenever you want it”. The app is available in both the Google and Apple apps stores. After just one week 4,000 people had downloaded the app onto their smartphones and tablets.
Like Vlaams Belang’s app that was launched in 2021 and has been downloaded 79,000 times and PVDA’s app that was launched last September and been downloaded 6,000 times, N-VA’s app features both written articles and video clips of MP’s work in parliament and tv interviews. Opinion polls also feature in the app.
