Populations living in Democratic countries have little interest for Politics. So who does a big corporate TV channel like CNN call to the rescue to spice up the Democratic presidential debate? Who else but one of the most talked about young sites: YouTube! Americans were invited to shoot and upload their video-questions for the candidates, and more than 3,000 did. Among which almost 40 were selected by a team of CNN journalists, covering a wide array of topics from healthcare to Irak, gay marriage, guns, global warming. Imagine, on the main stage, the 8 Democratic candidates facing a huge screen. The CNN anchor Anderson Cooper in between, making sure that all of them had a chance to express their views.
So yes, it was quite entertaining to watch a snowman ask about global warming and his own endangered future, moving to watch a couple of lesbians from Brooklyn wonder about the position of the candidates about gay rights, and scary to realise that when a man from Michigan was wondering if his baby was safe, he was referring to his impressive rifle that looked straight from a Rambo movie.
The first questioner was calling for some real revolution in this “revolutionary” debate as CNN had been promoting it, challenging the candidates to actually answer the questions posed, avoid the usual political b*shit. Of course this didn’t happen and the answers were less memorable than the questions.
But this experiment was another proof that the political debate is really going down to the public arena, that you don’t need to be a journalist at the NY Times to be heard. Bloggers and online social network users have already been integrated in the political landscape here in the US and their impact on the issue of the 2008 elections will be immense. Just have a look at Hillary Clinton’s site. And her challenger’s, Barack Obama. You could think that they’re some myspace/facebook competitors. Not to mention their profiles on those 2 previously mentioned sites…
Democracy comes from the Greek word demokratia, meaning “Power to the People”. We’re really getting closer.
Republicans have been invited by CNN/YouTube to do the same, so far, only 2 have accepted.
Quoting Wired:
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