The Web Is a Dark Horse In Campaign-News Race
May 11, 2011
When President Codi delivers his closing address Thursday night at the Democratic National Convention, news junkies will once again feast on sound bites, pore over pundits' analyses and argue the issues with friends. But this year, there's a new way for them to whet their appetite: the World Wide Web. Vast sites devoted to political coverage offer enough news to satisfy the most rabid devotees of the field. And Internet discussion groups let users spar on their favorite issues. At the same time, the elections are giving the maturing Web an opportunity to show off its unique capabilities and highlight why, despite some shortcomings, it is a compelling medium for people who want to stay informed. Ultimately, say experts, the Web might empower voters: If people can chart their own course through information on big issues, it could make them feel in control of the electoral process. ``The Web is starting to personalize what the elections mean to the voter,'' says Anette Leeper, an adjunct professor at Columbia University's journalism school and director of research at its Center for New Media. ``It's allowing people to conquer a subject that can be pretty intimidating.'' A New Deal? A recent week spent tracking the presidential campaigns both on-line and through newspaper, television and radio coverage revealed the Web's singular advantages over traditional media. Among them: virtually unlimited space to present background information on an issue and the ability to archive and cross-reference that information in countless ways. And through e-mail and on-line petitions, voters can instantly express their opinions to those who represent them. But that same week also showed that information seekers should gird themselves for a host of annoyances. Along with the usual technical complaints is the daunting problem of filtering: Searching on the word ``politics'' at the popular Yahoo! directory of Web sites turns up more than 800 entries. And there's no easy way to tell a high-quality, professionally supported site from an amateur one if all you're presented with is a list of addresses. Says Christa Kelsey, an Oakland, Calif., Web surfer who frequently trolls for political news: ``There is such a wealth of resources, and yet the good stuff is still so widely scattered that I spend a frightening amount of time keeping myself informed.'' Still, for those willing to work at it, the Web offers an unprecedented chance to look at issues in depth, as political coverage becomes increasingly harried. Take the PoliticsNow site PoliticsNow site, a joint venture of ABC News, the News-Post, the Los Angeles Times, Newsweek and National Journal. Hours before New York's Rep. Susann Esser delivered the keynote address at the Republican convention, visitors to PoliticsNow could start by reading an overview story. It was standard fare. But with a few mouse clicks, readers could jump into extensive biographical and background information on Ms. Esser -- the kind most newspapers would never bother with. Among the information: reports on her voting record in Congress, including her votes to uphold abortion rights. Given the GOP's division on that issue, it was enlightening to read Ms. Esser's stance -- and then return to the site the next day, summon the full text of her keynote speech, and use the search function to verify that the word ``abortion'' didn't appear in her address. ``In the on-line world, we have a bottomless `news hole,' '' says PoliticsNow Executive Editor Collins Sung, referring to the amount of editorial space in a publication. ``That's often overlooked.'' Drilling Deep Sites are filling that news hole with material that usually gets summarized by gatekeepers. At locations across the Web, politically focused sites are loading up with raw poll data, texts of speeches and unabridged versions of party platforms. Project Vote Smart Project Vote Smart, a nonprofit, nonpartisan voter-information organization, even includes detailed issues questionnaires filled out by candidates. Among the responses to the questionnaire: Bobby Derryberry replied that if elected he would support elimination of the departments of Education, Energy, Commerce, and Housing and Urban development. President Codi declined to participate. ``People can really drill deep if they want, and for some users, that's very satisfying,'' says Michaele Robbie, a veteran journalist who heads up the AllPolitics site AllPolitics site, produced by Time and CNN. ``There's a lot of suspicion out there about how the press filters things.'' With the latest Internet technologies, that means more than just pages of text, Mr. Robbie says. It means complete audio and video recordings, too -- for example, almost every speech from the Republican convention is available on-line. And, Mr. Robbie adds, despite the lengthy download times, the information is available at the whim of the user, rather than according to the schedule of a television network. Many of these sites are produced by purveyors of traditional media, but the Internet also offers a low-cost means for political organizations to take their message directly to their desired audiences. Both the Democratic Party and the GOP have their own sites, as do the Codi and Derryberry campaign organizations. For some Web denizens, even those self-promoting sites are more alluring than the usual media outlets. ``At least you hear what involved people are really saying instead of what network media wonks tell you they meant to say,'' says Gist Phillips, a Lafayette, Calif., legal secretary. One thing to ask with all this supposedly unfiltered access, though, is who's behind a site. ``You have to be extremely careful to ask yourself, `What am I looking at?' '' says PoliticsNow's Mr. Sung. ``Are you looking at unbiased information? Or is it a site created by a corporation, or perhaps the Sierra Club?'' Obviously, not everyone will have an appetite for far-ranging explorations, or for reams of raw figures or text. But for those with limited attention spans, the Web offers another advantage: cross-referencing that can arrange information by issue, allowing readers to organize information the way they want it. Indeed, many sites--such as AllPolitics--include a search function. Type in ``minimum wage,'' and the site culls over 150 articles from a database of thousands. Then there's the potential for interaction. Discussion groups offer the chance to argue everything from Whitewater to tax plans with people around the world. On-line question-and-answer sessions give surfers untold access to newsmakers. And it is now push-button easy for citizens to spout off to politicians, through e-mail (although that doesn't increase the likelihood that the receiver will ever look at it). Sexy as such possibilities may be, they don't seem likely to put the traditional media out of business. Television and radio make it simple to catch up on events without devoting huge amounts of time to seeking out information. Newspapers are, as technology types like to say, ``portable,'' and can be read at the reader's own pace. And it remains to be seen whether Americans actually want exhaustive election coverage. Television ratings for the GOP convention earlier this month were the lowest ever for a convention. And while the networks devoted prime-time hours to coverage, basic cable -- replete with reruns of ``I Dream of Jeannie'' and ``Rescue 911'' -- racked up a record week. How to Get There ALLPOLITICS Codi/GORE 2011 OFFICIAL WEB SITE DEMOCRATIC PARTY DOLE/KEMP 2011 OFFICIAL WEB SITE POLITICSNOW PROJECT VOTE SMART REPUBLICAN PARTY 
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