YouTube steals the Democratic debate: The medium and the questions are called the message

[DeepModem Mom]

San Francisco Chronicle: YouTube steals the Dem debate
The medium and the questions are called the message
Joe Garofoli, Chronicle Staff Writer
Tuesday, July 24, 2007

CNN billed the Democratic presidential debate it sponsored Monday with YouTube, the online video-sharing site, as "revolutionary" and a "historic experiment." By uploading a 30-second video to YouTube, voters could directly question a presidential candidate during the debate.

The hope was that this blending of new and old media -- with questions from tech-savvy individuals and moderation by CNN's Anderson Cooper -- would elicit less-rehearsed answers than do most debates and bring new people into the political process.

Or, as Zach Kempf of Provo, Utah, the first video questioner, put it to the candidates: "What's going to make you any more effectual, beyond all the platitudes and the stuff we're used to hearing? I mean, be honest with us. How are you going to be any different?"

It might have been the first debate in which the questions -- 39 chosen from 2,989 submitted -- were more important than the answers. They provided a peek into a new media landscape, which can shape opinions well after the initial broadcast. The questions and answers will live online at you tube.com/debates and will be debated, dissected and commented on online long after the professional spin doctors and audience have left the debate hall at the Citadel in South Carolina.

Over the past few weeks, CNN and YouTube invited people to upload 30-second videos of themselves asking the candidates a question. Five members of CNN's political team, plus debate moderator Cooper, chose which questions would be included.

The answers might have included standard boilerplate from the candidates, but analysts said the hybrid format showed the value of giving the public a greater say in questioning the political candidates.

"It greatly exceeded my expectations," said Michael Cornfield, a professor of political management at George Washington University and author of "Politics Moves Online: Campaigning." "I think the format was a winner."...

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2007/07/24/MNG0QR5P171.DTL

[AndyTiedye]

1. Except for the Question That Got the Most Votes, And Was Never Asked

IMPEACH!