Internet and Politics: Time to Shift?

Today's lecture in Mass Media Criticism class made a point that Internet has become more influential in political campaigning than before. The upcoming elections in the USA are typical examples. All major candidates - Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama and John McCain have their websites encourage people to sign up for information (with Democrats, first of all you will see the page that wants you to become a supporter), donate money or become a volunteer. They also provide background information and policies of candidates for American presidency. But is this information unbiased? Some websites may help in checking information from mailing lists and public speeches or track donations by states, cities, and candidates.

The candidates even have MySpace profiles. Interesting enough, Barack Obama has fewer friends than Hillary does. McCain has a very simple page. Ron Paul was not found at all.

Many videos that appeared on YouTube were not endorsed by politicians (who have their own YouTube debates page). For example, Hillary Clinton singing national anthem of USA can now be viewed by anybody.

Yeah, Hillary is not a singer at all. Without video social networking sites, it would be forgotten, but not now.

The humorous effect was reached by putting the recording of John Edwards brushing his hair with a song I Feel Pretty.

Senator George Allen during his speech noticed his rival's volunteer S. R. Sidarth and called him "macaca" several times. Later he claimed he didn't know the meaning of the word (which is defaming term for African natives), but it seems strange to use such a term suddenly.

Barack Obama is a favorite of many. But what can you say about this?

Another YouTube user made a video about Barack Obama, based on the famous Apple's Think Different ad aired on SuperBowl in 1984.

The actual Apple commercial, introduced to lunch Macintosh, was the following:

It is still considered as one of the best examples of launching an advertisement campaign. The ad plays with George Orwell's anti-utopia novel 1984.

So, today Internet and politics are closely connected with each other, Internet providing audience with continuous updates, helping to encourage support and stay in touch with voters.