THE FUTURE OF CAMPAIGN BROADCASTING

Since i don't purport to be able to speak to this topic as it affects other nations, i am, of course, speaking of the United States. That doesn't mean i would want to restrict discussion, and i hope, in fact, that people from elsewhere respond.

One of the reason for the huge, almost incredibly huge, amounts of money spent on political campaigning in this country is the cost of broadcast political messages. Certainly print ain't cheap, but television and radio cost the most, and are most widely used. But nothing about the human experience enjoys much permanence, and it is entirely possible that the dominance of those with deep pockets who can afford the teevee and the radio is nearing its end.

That is because of the internet. In the municipal election campaign in Toronto, people running for council seats made very successful appeals for votes by appealing through the internet--e-mails, and rounding up young people to spread the word through blogs and sites such as MySpace. It appears that this became very important in the American mid-term election which recently took place. (I say "appears," because there were more than 460 significant races for national office, House and Senate, and don't purport to have reliable data on how important the internet was.)

What are your thoughts, is the world wide web becoming more important in society communication than any other medium?

Wow, crispy stuffing is popular as hell.

Uh, I have to contribute to the real discussion... the internet is going to take over as the primary source of campaigns soon enough. It's immensely cheaper, reaches its audience wonderfully, and is already considered one of the biggest sources of sheer information around.

Presuming, of course, that the govt. doesn't decide to ban Net Neutrality one of these days... in which case, all this subversive sedition here on A2K is definitely going out the window.