Certification - July 2008 - (Page 27)

woman who damns her husband by saying everything she wants to say in public may regret that a couple of weeks later,” she said. “It may be too immediate, not allowing for much thought.” So the question is, does YouTube, in its ability to document and broadcast everything a candidates says, make the political process so transparent as to shift it in new directions? “It changes the landscape dramatically,” Perrin said. “It’s partly about transparency, but also about further increasing the sound-bite-ness of the political Politics on YouTube George W. Bush began his second term as president of the United States the month before YouTube’s inception. So the 2008 presidential campaign has been the first to feel the impact of the site. The campaign has seen televised debates in which citizens questioned candidates via YouTube clips. But more significantly, the analytical dialogue surrounding the campaign has identified a clear shift in presidential politics in what’s being called the “YouTube era.” What this means is that every second a candidate is in the public eye likely will be recorded, either professionally or amateurishly (perhaps with a camera phone), and sliced up for quick analysis by reporters and political bloggers. John McCain’s statement that he’d be comfortable with the United States military remaining in Iraq for 100 years was recorded by a private citizen attending a town-hall meeting in New Hampshire and was first aired publicly on YouTube. The sound bite is now part of a television ad produced by the Democratic National Committee. YouTube also affects the political process in ways that go beyond current gaffs or flubs. It provides reporters, political bloggers and, perhaps more importantly, political operatives with unfettered access to all of a candidate’s past statements on political positions, some of which may not agree with a candidate’s current ones. Mitt Romney was stung by this in the current presidential race when the McCain campaign dug up a YouTube video in which the former Massachusetts governor stated he supported maintaining abortion rights in his state. Romney claims he changed his position on abortion to being pro-life following a November 2004 conversation with a stem cell researcher that he found unsettling. But the clip dated to May 2005, six months after this conversation. The video created doubt regarding Romney’s stance. Flip-Flop Reporters, bloggers and political operatives used YouTube to profile Mitt Romney’s changing positions on key issues, including abortion. landscape. This strikes me as a bad thing for politics. [Candidates now] have to be very careful about not just their whole message, but about each little piece of the message, which is why so many presidential speeches and campaign speeches are so deadly boring and repetitive.” Jones agreed. “One of the possible long-term effects is that it’s going to cause politicians to even more greatly circumscribe their speech,” he said. “I don’t think that’s a good thing. I’d prefer that our politicians felt that they could speak freely, and then we could judge what they say.” 8 – Daniel Margolis, dmargolis@certmag.com July 2008 CERTIFICATION MAGAZINE 27 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cFMdK0TWtks

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Certification - July 2008

Certification - July 2008 Editor's Letter Contents Data System Virtual Village Tech Careers Dear Techie Academic Connection Look Ahead Troubleshooting Testing Your Foot in the Door: Certification at the Entry Level Analyzing the Societal Effects of YouTube Interface Spread the Knowledge: Becoming an IT Trainer Inside Certification Ad Index What We Like Endtag

Certification - July 2008

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