New Media vs. Traditional Media in the ’08 Presidential Race

Once again the Internet is transforming our way of life. This time, in the realm of politics. During the last presidential election, a hint of what was to come was displayed by strong fundraising efforts for Howard Dean. Now, in the upcoming 2008 election, we are truly seeing the difference in how the Internet is influencing the public in comparison to traditional media (television, print and radio).

The 2008 election is utilizing the Internet in a variety of ways, beyond just fundraising efforts. And, not only is the Internet being used by candidates for exposure, but the general public is taking command and initiating their own support campaigns. One of the early tactics that generated a large buzz was the use of social media site, YouTube.com. A video depicting Hillary Clinton as “Big Brother” spread like wildfire throughout the Internet. The video ends with a message of support for Barack Obama (watch the video here). Other popular YouTube videos have featured women with crushes or cheerleaders for Barack Obama, Mitt Romney and Rudy Giuliani. Other social media sites such as MySpace and Facebook contain numerous sites for each candidate. This is truly a demonstration of the general population taking control of information dissemination and promotion for their candidate of choice.

One incredibly interesting movement that pits the Internet against traditional media is the Ron Paul campaign. If you are only consuming traditional media, chances are you have never even heard of Ron Paul. However, in the world of the Web, he is one of the most, if not thee most popular presidential candidate. His website, RonPaul2008.com has been recorded by HitWise as receiving the most traffic than any other political candidate. Barack Obama and Ron Paul seem to battle it out in this category but in other categories, Ron Paul clearly dominates. Here are some other recent stats on his Internet campaign:

• “Ron Paul” is the number one political search term according to HitWise.
• “Ron Paul” is the number one presidential candidate search term according to HitWise.
• Ron Paul has the number one Republican website by a wide margin according to HitWise
• Ron Paul has the most YouTube viewership among Republicans and is second only to Barack Obama according to Among These.
• Ron Paul has the most “Meetup” members, groups, cities, and events far beyond any other candidate according to Among These.

It will be interesting to see if the mainstream media is forced to give coverage to Ron Paul due to his popularity on the Internet. Currently, the fact that he has so much of a following but does not get any mainstream coverage raises some interesting questions. Is the mainstream media out of touch with the American people? How much choice does the public truly have when only a select few get the face time for promoting their campaign on traditional media outlets? What other candidates are out there that the general public does not know about? Does mainstream media cater only to a wealthy elite that can afford the coverage? These questions alone call for every American citizen to seek information through a channel that is clearly demonstrating a true democratic process. Below are a few links for seeking out election information:

http://www.vote-smart.org/election_president.php

http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=U.S._presidential_election%2C_2008

http://uspolitics.einnews.com/category/2008-presidential-election

The Internet is empowering all of us to gather information on all issues and to even take matters into our own hands in an effort to support our own candidate of choice. It does not matter what your party affiliation is, the information is out there for every candidate. It’s up to us to make an effort and use the Internet as our medium of choice for gathering all the facts so we can make intelligent decisions. The upcoming year is going to be really interesting, but one vote I’ll cast right now is my choice for New Media. Out with the old, in with the new, let’s see if it makes a difference in 2008.

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