The Blog Formerly Known As Vote '08

Interesting article from the Politico today that outlines how the GOP is far behind the Democrats in the so-called “new media” — on the internet.

Some key quotes:

The right is engaged in the business of opining while the left features sites that offer a more reportorial model.

At first glance, these divergent approaches might not seem consequential. But as the 2008 campaign progresses, it’s becoming increasingly clear that the absence of any websites on the right devoted to reporting—as opposed to just commenting on the news—is proving politically costly to Republicans.

While conservatives are devoting much of their Internet energy to analysis, their counterparts on the left are taking advantage of the rise of new media to create new institutions devoted to unearthing stories, putting new information into circulation and generally crowding the space traditionally taken by traditional media. And it almost always comes at the expense of GOP politicians. While online Republicans chase the allure of punditry and commentary, Democrats and progressives are pursuing old-fashioned shoe-leather reporting, in a fashion reminiscent of 2004. Back then, the Drudge Report and other lesser-known conservative portals played a key role in defining John Kerry and pushing back against criticism of George W. Bush such as when conservative bloggers debunked documents purportedly related to the president’s Air National Guard service.

Just as Drudge and critics of the now-infamous “60 Minutes” report on Bush were able to push stories damaging to Kerry or beneficial to Bush into the mainstream media, liberal online organs are now doing the same, to the detriment of GOP presidential nominee John McCain.

…

Deploying writers with backgrounds grounded in journalism rather than politics, The Huffington Post and Talking Points Memo, in particular, have already become a persistent problem for McCain’s campaign, regularly posting negative opposition research and embarrassing videos in addition to advancing damaging storylines against the GOP nominee.

There is simply no equivalent on the right to these two liberal-leaning websites.

…

..prominent conservatives such as Rush Limbaugh and Michelle Malkin have prospered by seizing upon the sense of grievance conservatives have felt toward the mainstream media.

Liberals, on the other hand, responded to their own disenchantment with the media and the Bush era by channeling their anger into the creation of parallel reporting outlets geared toward doing what old-line news outlets purportedly weren’t doing.

This development just happened to take place right when the mood matched empowering new technologies, enabling new players who would have found it impossible to break through under the old media model. “

To see another sign that the “internet campaign” is being won by a mile by Obama you need only check each of the candidates’ website “blogs.”

Here’s Obama’s.

Here’s McCain’s.

Number of new posts on Obama’s blog in the last 24 hours: 9

Number of new posts on McCain’s blog in last 24 hours: 1

& this is by no means uncommon; I’ve been meaning to write a “compare the blogs” post for a while & have been checking. Obama averages 8-10 new posts each day on his blog, whereas -almost like clockwork- McCain’s blog has a new post once every three days.

Add to that the fact that McCain has famously said he “doesn’t know how to use a computer,” & what you have is a potentially embarassing showing among young voters in November. Even if the candidate himself is not too tech-familiar, McCain’s staff needs to realize what’s been drummed into our heads here at NewsChannel 9 for the last year - that the internet is the future & is the key to success (no matter whether it’s the media or a political campaign).

What do you think? Post a comment now!

UPDATE:

Greg says

As someone who works in new media, and sees up close how it has radically changed social organization and information distribution, it is baffling to me that a politician wouldn’t put in the time to get to understand the implications of the technology.

Over the next decade or so, a lot of how we do business is going to be transformed, and I’m guessing there will be jobs displaced and folks that don’t have a new media literacy are going to find themselves marginalized. Regardless of party affiliation, a politician who can’t be bothered to understand this fundamental shift in how we connect to each other, organize our lives and participate in commerce is beyond useless.

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