The 2008 Chaos Election Theory, or: the Year of User-Generated Swiftboating

[marmar]

From HuffPost:


Bruno Giussani

04.07.2007
The 2008 Chaos Election Theory, or: the Year of User-Generated Swiftboating (4 comments )

The other day at the end of my speech on citizen bloggers at the BlogCamp in Zurich, someone in the audience asked for my opinion on the impact of blogs on the 2008 US presidential election ("blogs" is here used as shorthand for a whole palette of communication and conversation tools, from youtube to twitter).

I said: "it will be huge, and lead to chaos".

That requires some explaining. The Web has played an increasing role in the US presidential campaigns ever since 1996. In 2004, blogs and MeetUp and online fund-raising were central in creating the illusion that Howard Dean was unstoppable, just to see him melt away as soon as he stepped out of the overheated online bubble. But at the end, television decided: think of the inordinate impact of the "Swift Boat Veterans for Truth" campaign to distort John Kerry's military record (he was decorated for his service in Vietnam) that used four deceitful TV advertisements which instilled doubts in many people about his honesty and inserted a lot of static into his message. A tactic that became known as "swiftboating".

Much has changed in the last three years: broadband is commonplace; blogs carry alot of clout; online video has demonstrated its power; the "mainstream media" (television and print) have lost some of theirs. There is no randomness in the fact that both Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama announced that they were running through videos posted on their packed-with-features websites rather than at a formal press conference; in the fact that both have MySpace pages (Hillary: 8380 "friends"; Barack: 92426); in the fact that John Edwards invites bloggers to tag along on campaign tours; etc (most other candidates on both parties do the same).

So, many expect that 2008 will be a better, more democratic campaign, where "citizen journalists" will be able to unravel the partisan spin, where true conversations may start on real issues towards real solutions. Where manipulation and lies will be harder to carry out because somebody, somewhere, will be able to spot them, decrypt them, maybe record/videotape/document them, and if so certainly share them on YouTube or on a blog, condemning them and setting the record straight. And truth and substance will emerge -- and win. ....(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bruno-giussani/the-2008-chaos-election-t_b_45205.html