June 14, 2006
Internet-Powered Politics Grow in Importance
The New York Times’ Adam Cohen has this op-ed piece today about the rise of the Internet in politics. He uses as his jumping-off point the high-profile display granted to a homemade video produced by a 15 year-old girl at the gathering of liberal bloggers at the YearlyKos.
Ms. Lowery’s video, set to the Queen song “We Will Rock You,” contrasted the “liars” and “leakers” in the Bush administration with “those of us who choose to stand up for truth and justice.” Her handiwork, which can be seen at Youtube.com (Ava Lowery’s video), is a bit over the top. But it shows that a 15-year-old with video software and Internet access can now create and disseminate a professional-quality political ad.
The point is, the Internet and user-generated content hold the ability to shake and reshape American politics down to its core. While bloggers held some power in the 2004 elections, the influence of the Internet will soar come 2008.
Last week’s gathering was widely described as a bloggers’ convention, but it was a lot more. It was the mainstream debut of “Internet-powered politics,” and it made a convincing case that the Internet will quickly surpass television as the primary medium for communicating political ideas.
Web-based initiatives stand to primarily benefit Democrats as opposed to the more tightly scripted and controlled Republicans.
For the conventioneers, there was no question that Internet-powered politics would do as much — or more — for the left as talk radio did for the right. There are some cultural reasons why Democrats may be more attracted to the Internet. Democrats, as a group, may have warmer feelings about science and technology, or perhaps they are attracted to the decentralized, anti-authoritarian nature of blogs and e-mail (the exact opposite of a show like Rush Limbaugh’s, where the host speaks and the “dittoheads” take it all in).
But the messiness of the web could also dilute the effectiveness of the Democratic party. Republicans have succeeded in large part because of their centralized, controlled campaigning.
Still, Cohen thinks the rise of Internet-powered politics is a good thing for democracy.
On the whole, the new more participatory politics that the Internet is ushering in is clearly a good thing for democracy. Whether it turns out to be good for the Democratic Party in particular is yet to be seen. But the transformation seems inevitable
Posted by Cynthia Brumfield at June 14, 2006 11:59 AM
Comments
If anyone wants to try their hand at making their own political vid, Link TV has been posting clips of YearlyKos here: http://www.linktv.org/yearlykos/
Longer segments with better video controls are posted here: http://www.fora.tv/
Posted by: breakingranks at June 14, 2006 06:14 PM