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Politics and the New Media

"The Web is more important in this presidential campaign and the Pennsylvania primary than the newspaper. Think Web first, and then think newspaper, because you're going to do something different for the newspaper. I'm not saying the newspaper's not important, but first think Web, because if you don't think Web first, it's going to be too late to think Web."
— Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Executive Editor David M. Shribman

Politics and the New Media
Introduction
By Melissa Ludtke, Editor
Don’t Fear Twitter (1 comment)
Using moment-by-moment observations, ‘Twitter entries build a community of readers who find their way to longer articles ….’
By John Dickerson
Only the Reader Sleeps
As political coverage meets the insatiable Web, ‘Reporters and editors have less and less time and more and more responsibilities to file, and to keep filing.’
By Kate Phillips
Adding Radio and Video Web Casts to Political News in Print
‘… am I becoming the first correspondent in my paper’s history who has no time to think?’
By Pekka Mykkänen
It’s an Online World for Young People and Political News (1 comment)
‘My generation doesn't trust what the lone anchor tells us, nor the pundit, nor the panel of experts.’
By Jonathan Seitz
Young Reporters, New Tools, and Political Reporting
At MTV, the 51 members of Street Team ’08 are experimenting with format, content and distribution as they find stories to tell to a youthful audience.
By Liz Nord
Reporting From Kansas for MTV’s Street Team
‘If we want to be successful on the Web, it‘s got to be “guerrilla journalism,” edgy and unpredictable.’
By Alex Parker
Shifting Influence: From Institution to Individual
‘Inheriting the old order was not an option for my generation of journalists.‘
By John Harris
Election Coverage Becomes a Time for ‘Instant Innovation’ (1 comment)
At the Knoxville News Sentinel, bloggers were invited to steer good political coverage to the eyes of the newspaper's online readers.
By Jack Lail
Linking Newspaper Readers to the Best Political Coverage (1 comment)
‘Given the dynamics of the Web … how do news organizations and journalists best serve political news consumers?’
By Scott Karp
For Campaign Coverage, Web Too Often an Afterthought
‘Big news projects on the campaign are still conceived in The Washington Post's newsroom as traditional newspaper stories.’
By Russ Walker
Campaign 2008: It‘s on YouTube
Since the last presidential election, the ‘bubble’ in which the press once operated ‘has become a fishbowl.’
By Albert L. May
The Jigs and Jags of Digital Political Coverage
By Albert L. May
YouTube: The Flattening of Politics (1 comment)
As online video reshapes political coverage, news organizations ignore it ‘at their own peril.’
By Steve Grove
The ‘B’ Word in Traditional News and on the Web
‘Entering “Hillary” and “bitch” we found more than 500 YouTube videos.’
By Kathleen Hall Jamieson and Jacqueline Dunn
Enclave Extremism and Journalism's Brave New World (1 comment)
Some contend that The Daily Me, a self-designed compendium of news and information, leads to increased political polarization.
By Cass R. Sunstein
Political Blogs: Teaching Us Lessons About Community
In the mediascape of blogs, people ‘want the news delivered to them in the context of their attitudes and beliefs.’
By Dan Kennedy
Bloggers Push Past the Old Media's Gatekeepers (1 comment)
From YouTube to The Huffington Post, new media ‘are upending the presidential campaign process and raising questions about journalism's place in it.’
By Tom Fiedler
The Web's Pathway to Accuracy
By Tom Fiedler
Political Journalists — Writing for Online Publications
By Tom Fiedler
New Media Battles Old to Define Internet-Era Politics
‘Because of tradition, inertia and command of the largest, most diverse audiences, the mainstream media still drive the campaign bus with the same old road map.’
By John McQuaid
Covering the Web as a Force in Electoral Politics
‘During the past year and a half … I've been consistently surprised by the volume of calls we get from journalists asking for help understanding this new medium.’
By Micah L. Sifry
Trivial Pursuit: It Happens Too Often in Political Coverage (3 comments)
‘… some of the worst features of campaign reporting emanate from the kinds of psychological defenses that reporters erect to deal with their insecurities.’
By Christopher Hayes
Fast-Paced Journalism's Neglect of Nuance and Context
‘In online reporting, news breaks and context is often added later.’
By Sam Stein
The Spanish-Language Press Delves Into Racial Complexities
‘Most notable was the story line in which Latino voters were described in ways that made them seem monolithic.’
By Elena Shore
Determining If a Politician Is Telling the Truth (1 comment)
‘Through our Truth-O-Meter, we graphically show the relative truth of each claim.’
By Bill Adair