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Pew Research Center - Internet Now Major Source of Campaign News

Pew Research Center - Internet Now Major Source of Campaign News

Many more Americans are turning to the internet for campaign news this year as the web becomes a key source of election news. Television remains the dominant source, but the percent who say they get most of their campaign news from the internet has tripled since October 2004 (from 10% then to 33% now).

While use of the web has seen considerable growth, the percentage of Americans relying on TV and newspapers for campaign news has remained relatively flat since 2004. The internet now rivals newspapers as a main source for campaign news. And with so much interest in the election next week, the public's use of the internet as a campaign news source is up even since the primaries earlier this year. In March, 26% cited the internet as a main source for election news, while the percentages citing television and newspapers remain largely unchanged.

Not surprisingly, the internet is a considerably more popular source for campaign news among younger Americans than among older ones. Nearly three times as many people ages 18 to 29 mention the internet as mention newspapers as a main source of election news (49% vs. 17%). Nearly the opposite is true among those over age 50: some 22% rely on the internet for election news while 39% look to newspapers. Compared with 2004, use of the internet for election news has increased across all age groups. Among the youngest cohort (age 18-29), TV has lost significant ground to the internet.

On television, the cable news outlets clearly dominate the big three networks as main sources of campaign news. Nearly half of the public (46%) turns to the cable news channels, with 25% naming CNN as a main source of campaign news, 21% naming Fox News Channel and 10% naming MSNBC. Only 24% rely on the network news outlets ABC, CBS and NBC. Another 13% look to local TV news. This reflects broader changes in news consumption patterns. In recent years, cable news outlets have overtaken the networks as the general news sources that the public watches most regularly.

Posted by Mike on November 01, 2008 | Permalink

Tags: Internet, News, Pew Research Center

Internet Is Becoming Dominant Media Force In National Political Campaigns

Internet is Becoming Dominant Media Force in National Political Campaigns, Reports USC Digital Future Project. Web offers growing potential for independent candidates and parties

LOS ANGELES, July 31 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The role of the Internet in politics has grown with such speed and scope that it is well on its way to becoming the dominant media force in political campaigning, according to the director of the most comprehensive study of the impact of the online technology on America.

"For fundraising, outreach to voters, making announcements and articulating a campaign platform, the Internet is now the primary media of choice for candidates to deliver their messages," said Jeffrey Cole, director of the Center for the Digital Future at the USC Annenberg School for Communication. "Television is assuming a lesser role in the development of campaigns; increasingly, TV is being reduced to finding its news coverage in subjects that originate on the Internet."

Cole's observations about the Internet's role in political campaigning are based on findings from the Digital Future Project, the comprehensive year-to- year study launched in 2000 to explore the impact of online technology on Americans.

Summarizing the Center's seven years of analysis of online access and changing patterns of political behavior, Cole has identified broad changes as Internet users now primarily rely on the web for breaking news as well as campaign information about candidates and issues.

In particular, Cole notes a trend of the increasing importance of the Internet as a primary source of political information. Based on conservative estimates, Internet use for obtaining political information may have tripled since 2000, now nearing an estimated 60 percent of Internet users.

According to Cole, the evolving changes that combine open access, low-cost technology, and a growing base of users who seek political information and involvement have created vast potential for virtual politics that is reshaping the nature of election campaigning.

"A vivid recent example of this shift," said Cole, "was the Democratic candidate debate co-sponsored by YouTube that produced thousands of prospective questions and a distinct shift in how the candidates were required to react to issues."

The Internet is not only providing expanded opportunities for established politicians, but is also opening the door for candidates who previously would have had little or no opportunity to reach and influence large numbers of voters.

"I can see a time quite soon when a viable third-party presidential candidate could emerge based entirely on building an online constituency," said Cole. "Given the power of online political communication, the Internet could become the launching pad not only for individual candidates, but for the rise of the first successful third party in the United States since the Republican Party was created in the 1850s."

The growth of virtual politics is also beginning to shift the nature of campaign financing.

"The current political campaign may be the last in which dollars raised is the single most important factor in creating a political power base," said Cole. "Candidates still need plenty of cash, but now candidates with smaller campaign budgets can compete more effectively because of online communication."

"Previously, campaigns needed millions of dollars to buy television commercial time, and they had no other outlet for these messages," Cole said. "Now, commercials distributed online through YouTube, MySpace, and other Web venues not only reach large audiences, but their appearance become campaign events covered by traditional media."

With the Internet's growth in the political process have come many emerging issues about online technology.

"No political candidate can succeed without a comprehensive Internet strategy -- but the growth of online campaigning raises many unanswered issues for candidates," said Cole. "Among the most important questions: How can candidates recruit Internet users who are willing to listen? How can candidates conduct effective fundraising online?

"Equally important are questions about voters who use the Internet," Cole said. "As voters increasingly go online for their political information, how can the Internet become a more effective tool that voters can use to gain power and influence in the political process? Can the Internet truly be a tool for the political empowerment of voters?"

Source: USC Annenberg School for Communication

Posted by Mike on July 31, 2007 | Permalink

Web 2.0 Meets Campaign 2008

Web 2.0 meets Campaign 2008
Podcasts and videos are among the features found on the interactive websites of US presidential candidates.
By Linda Feldmann, Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor

Web expands playing field

"What's clear is that the advent of Web 2.0 – the wave of social-networking, file-sharing, and collaborative sites that have come into common use – has expanded the playing field for presidential candidates in ways that were unthinkable just a few years ago."

Posted by Mike on May 16, 2007 | Permalink

2008 Candidates Vying For Voters On The Web

Candidates Blaze the Campaign Trail...Online
Internet's Superhighway is the New-Age Road to the White House

By JENNIFER PARKER

Feb 9, 2007— Blogs, podcast, web video — these and other Internet technologies have fast become must-have political tools for the 2008 presidential candidates — and campaigns without them are scrambling to catch up.

With an increasing number of Americans saying they get their political news and information from the Internet, and broadband spreading across remote communities, a number of contenders are vying for voters and the White House on the Web.

ABC News Story

Posted by Mike on February 09, 2007 | Permalink

Bloggers Indispensable To The '08 Campaign

Bloggers: Indispensable for '08 Campaign
By: Aoife McCarthy
January 29, 2007

Since Howard Dean's Internet-driven bid for the 2004 Democratic presidential nomination, retaining a campaign blogosphere guru is no longer a luxury; it's a necessity...

Political Internet strategists are now in a fevered race to make their sites faster, smarter and better. This is one medium where stealing your opponents' ideas is not only encouraged, it is also a necessity. Even Edwards' Web site, widely touted as the most advanced presidential online presence, is an amalgamation of YouTube, MySpace and Facebook, taking from the best of each. His site maintains links to those sites and others...

Politico Story

Posted by Mike on January 29, 2007 | Permalink

2008 Campaigns Realize Potential Of Web Video

On the Electronic Campaign Trail
Politicians Realize the Potential of Web Video
By Chris Cillizza and Dan Balz
Washington Post Staff Writers
Monday, January 22, 2007

"Playing defense is only one use of Web video. Equally important, the candidates and their staffs see Web-based video as an inexpensive and potentially significant tool for telling their campaign story without the filters of the traditional media.

Call it the YouTube effect, and it is only growing. The video-sharing site, which less than a year after its founding was bought by Google for $1.65 billion, has revolutionized the transfer of information via video, spawned a number of imitators and forced candidates to recalibrate choices, from their announcement strategies to their staffing decisions.

The accelerated use of campaign video is likely to continue throughout the 2008 campaign as technology opens new opportunities and challenges, with even more significant changes likely by 2012, when Internet Protocol television -- the equivalent of television channels based on the Web -- becomes more technically and financially feasible."

Washington Post Article

Posted by Mike on January 22, 2007 | Permalink

U.S. Voters Turning To The Internet For Informaton On Campaigns

U.S. voters use Internet more, big role seen in 2008
Wed Jan 17, 2007 3:09 PM ET
By Jeremy Pelofsky

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Americans turned in growing numbers to the Internet for political news and information during the 2006 U.S. congressional campaign, as Web videos and blogs became more widespread, a report on Wednesday said.

Fifteen percent of those surveyed said they relied on the Web for the bulk of their political news in 2006, up from 7 percent in the 2002 congressional campaign but down 2 points from 2004, when there was also a presidential race. Presidential contests tend to draw more intense interest.

In the 2008 race for the White House, former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards unveiled his plans to run for the Democratic nomination via his Web site and e-mail, while Illinois Democratic Sen. Barack Obama on Tuesday posted a video online revealing his bid.

Reuters Story

Posted by Mike on January 17, 2007 | Permalink

Video Blogs In Use By Presidential Candidates

Tom Vilsack and John Edwards make use of video blogs to launch their respective campaigns.

Does Your Presidental Candidate Have a Vlog?

"Will video blogs become the next big tech breakthrough to help voters connect with their candidates for the '08 Presidential campaign? Some politicians hope so."

Post I.T. Blog

Posted by Mike on January 03, 2007 | Permalink

Apple adds Podcast support to iTunes

Apple Takes Podcasting Mainstream
Discover, Subscribe, Manage & Listen to Podcasts Right in iTunes 4.9
CUPERTINO, California—June 28, 2005—Apple® today announced it is taking Podcasting mainstream by building everything users need to discover, subscribe, manage and listen to Podcasts right into iTunes® 4.9.

“Apple is taking Podcasting mainstream by building it right into iTunes,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “Podcasting is the next generation of radio, and users can now subscribe to over 3,000 free Podcasts and have each new episode automatically delivered over the Internet to their computer and iPod.”

The Republican National Committee, John Edward's One America PAC, and Evan Bayh's All America PAC use Podcasts to communicate with supporters.

Apple Press Release

Posted by Mike on June 28, 2005 | Permalink

Microsoft to Deliver RSS Support

This may be the most important announcement relating to the Internet and the 2008 Presidential Campaign. With this functionality and standardization in the operating system, Presidential Campaign Web Sites could deliver lists of the top 10 issues, photo albums, videos, and podcasts as RSS feeds.

SEATTLE— June 24, 2005 — Microsoft Corp. today announced support for RSS (Really Simple Syndication) in the next version of the Microsoft® Windows® operating system, code-named “Longhorn.” The RSS functionality in “Longhorn” is being designed to make it simple for end users to discover, view and subscribe to RSS feeds, as well as make it easier for developers to incorporate the rich capabilities of RSS into their applications. In addition, Microsoft announced Simple List Extensions, a set of extensions to RSS that can be used to enable Web sites to publish lists as RSS feeds. Microsoft is making the specification freely available via the Creative Commons license.

"RSS is key to how people will use the Internet in the future by automatically delivering the information that is important to them,” said Dean Hachamovitch, general manager for “Longhorn” browsing and RSS at Microsoft. “We are investing heavily in RSS for Windows ‘Longhorn’ to make it easy for users to discover, read and subscribe to RSS feeds as well as enable developers to deliver powerful, smart applications that act on the information on behalf of the user.”

Microsoft Press Release

Posted by Mike on June 24, 2005 | Permalink

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