Looking at any election happening at the moment we can see how along with website and video advertisement blog is a tool that has become the central point of modern day political campaign. It namely provides an image of the candidates openness to the communication with the individual voter. The political candidates Blogs are written so that they emphasise the availability of the candidate and the personalised experiences of the candidate with his voters. These are presented on pictures, on videos and there are even interviews with them, we can see their full names, their faces and how passionately they think about their candidate.
But Blog is of even greater importance to the PR people leading the campaign, the blog provides them with the possibility that at any time they can respond to any happenings. They are able to post any developments or issue statements and not only as the PR team of the campaign but in the name of the candidate.
That there is a lot of energy being put into the blog postings on the candidate sites, can be seen by the sheer number of post on them and how they vary in their content. As claimed by Croteau and Hoynes
The media’s influence on a hundred politicians has much more significant effect and pronounced implications that their influence on a hundred regular voters. It is insiders- politicians, lobbyists, campaign managers, financial contributors, and so forth- who pay closest attention to, and are most likely to be influenced by, the media. Nowhere is this more evident that in the changes in political campaigns in response to media coverage.
Blogs are designed so that on them various different interested profiles can get the information they might sought after. From the posts that focus on pictures to the newspaper clippings, speeches, and event commentaries can all be found there.
Blogs in political campaigns, we could say, are formed so that they combine the most accurate information about the policy of the candidate (composed so that they leave no space for misinterpretation), that they show the closeness of the candidate to his constituencies and his familiarity of the problems they have. Alongside to these information serious PR elements are added intended for the journalists to be able to get them and also that they take in the consideration the previously mentions personality features of the candidate.
Monday, September 15, 2008
Thursday, September 11, 2008
You tube and lost videos
As I have been informed by professor Jankowski, the video I have posted in my last post, was no longer available trough the link I have provided. As I promised then I have tried to find the same video but I was not successful. It was as if the video disappeared, it obviously too aggressive and as it had a very strong biblical sub tone it must have been perceived as offensive. I have noticed several times trough the past several months that there were videos that have been removed from the you tube and their links suspended. These mainly were all crossing that thin line of good taste which in politics is so difficult to find. I am sorry for not making a transcript of the text that was used in the video, as it was a perfect example of over the line negative campaign. Just to show you where I believe that the inspiration for that video really came from i want you to have a look at the first negative ad titled "The One" posted by the McCain campaign. Just listen how Obama is shown as a sort of a messiah and that at the end there is the movie "the Ten Commandments" staring Charlton Heston as Moses.
Thursday, August 14, 2008
Wednesday, April 2, 2008
Who is fighting the presidential campaign on the Youtube
As I have been trying to keep up with all of the different videos connected with the democratic primary elections there is one video that keeps popping up on regardless what search I make. The Obama girl video has seemed as a very ingenious advertising of the Senator Barack Obama’s campaign. It has since it has appeared caused a flooding of video replays and a whole line of videos starring “something Girls”. The Obama girl phenomenon has made a very strong impact on the elections of 2008 as it I think combines all of the features of a good political campaign. It has a clear message, it is noticed by people reaching vast crowds (The I have a crush on Obama video is one of the most viewed on the Youtube with 7,595,224 views) and it is still interesting and continuing to be a part of the debate. The basic elements are obvious a model dressed in a minimal outfit and a catchy tune mixed with politics and posted on the Youtube. I have therefore taken some time to make an overview of the videos with related topics and decided to present to you some:
Starting with The original I got a crush on Obama video:
This is the sequel of the I got a crush on Obama video and is aimed at Hillary Clinton and her campaign. Trough the video you can actually see all of the debated issues of the campaign at the time and positions of the traditional media and presenting Obamagirl as a user of Internet, being one of the members of the new generation of voters.
And the Super ObamaGirl video made for super Tuesday,
There are similar videos made by the same company called barely political who have produced a hole series of related and similar videos , but which I want to avoid at the time. But I want you to see some of the Girls of the opposition.
Starting with The original I got a crush on Obama video:
This is the sequel of the I got a crush on Obama video and is aimed at Hillary Clinton and her campaign. Trough the video you can actually see all of the debated issues of the campaign at the time and positions of the traditional media and presenting Obamagirl as a user of Internet, being one of the members of the new generation of voters.
And the Super ObamaGirl video made for super Tuesday,
There are similar videos made by the same company called barely political who have produced a hole series of related and similar videos , but which I want to avoid at the time. But I want you to see some of the Girls of the opposition.
Wednesday, March 5, 2008
Why do social networks scare me?
During the past six months most of my friends and acquaintances started their facebook accounts and as a consequence I have been listening over and over the reasons why I should join and how this is a “must have” in the XXI century. It all appeared a bit strange as only a few months ago I have had the same kind of conversations with more or less same people on the necessity of using mySpace. Listening to the argumentations such as how it permits you to stay in touch with people you know from abroad, how this is a sign of being socially active in the age of the internet (while showing me graphs of how ones contacts are interconnected amongst themselves and how often they are in contact, etc.), and the very important one, you can upload and look at photos.
But after almost caving in to making an account with this new miraculous, fashionable and free social network site, due to the vast number of arguments and peer pressure I all off a sudden started to get different kind of messages. Several friends started to complain to me how they are fed up of being bothered by strange and unknown people. This is the point I became really sceptical of this new technology. First of all I have been experimenting with photography for around eight years now and there were many photos I would like to share with other people, but I don’t want anyone stealing them and using them with out my knowledge. Now this question for me was a very big one as I have been looking at the time at how could I preserve the especially digital photos in case of a computer failure, but the idea exposing my photos to the whole internet made me look for different alternatives.
The second problem I encountered was when I thought that if I am not prepared to expose my photos why I would want to expose any other information. As if there is not enough cases of abused identities on the internet, people were now voluntarily posting all kind of information onto the internet often for all to see just for the fun of it. I know that it may seen a bit paranoyed but I can easily see someone slowly gathering information and using it for a scheme or in case of photos even for blackmail, as people really post everything up there, and we shall see if all of a sudden people start getting panic over photos they made and got published years ago.
The third argument for why I’m not on facebook came just a few days ago and has confirmed most of my greatest fears and that is that it is impossible to get out of facebook, which means that you can freeze your account but at any given moment you can reactivate it. Or put in a different way what you put on the internet stays on the internet. Worried?
P.S.
I have decided to write this coment after reading the article Social Network Sites: Definition, History and Scolarship by Boyd and Ellison and remembering the debate we had with professor Jankowski when drinking beer one evening. And we got there without the use of invitations trough facebook.
But after almost caving in to making an account with this new miraculous, fashionable and free social network site, due to the vast number of arguments and peer pressure I all off a sudden started to get different kind of messages. Several friends started to complain to me how they are fed up of being bothered by strange and unknown people. This is the point I became really sceptical of this new technology. First of all I have been experimenting with photography for around eight years now and there were many photos I would like to share with other people, but I don’t want anyone stealing them and using them with out my knowledge. Now this question for me was a very big one as I have been looking at the time at how could I preserve the especially digital photos in case of a computer failure, but the idea exposing my photos to the whole internet made me look for different alternatives.
The second problem I encountered was when I thought that if I am not prepared to expose my photos why I would want to expose any other information. As if there is not enough cases of abused identities on the internet, people were now voluntarily posting all kind of information onto the internet often for all to see just for the fun of it. I know that it may seen a bit paranoyed but I can easily see someone slowly gathering information and using it for a scheme or in case of photos even for blackmail, as people really post everything up there, and we shall see if all of a sudden people start getting panic over photos they made and got published years ago.
The third argument for why I’m not on facebook came just a few days ago and has confirmed most of my greatest fears and that is that it is impossible to get out of facebook, which means that you can freeze your account but at any given moment you can reactivate it. Or put in a different way what you put on the internet stays on the internet. Worried?
P.S.
I have decided to write this coment after reading the article Social Network Sites: Definition, History and Scolarship by Boyd and Ellison and remembering the debate we had with professor Jankowski when drinking beer one evening. And we got there without the use of invitations trough facebook.
The Answer to Maja's comment
Maja thank you for your comment, I have been thinking of very similar things and have tried to find out if this was actually a part of any official campaign, but so far I was unable to find any proof that it was so. I have tried to get any facts and that is whay it has taken me somewhat longer to naswer to your comment.
What I am getting more and more convinced is that this advertisement is or a spoof which besides making strange insinuations is probably also in violation of the copyrights and trade mark legislation.
Law suits in such cases are very complicated if such an advert is not published in printed media as it is very hard to determine who made such an advert, why and how it got on the internet. Just remember all of the cases in which materials were claimed to have been stolen or published by mistake. After all just remember the very recent event in which a document disappeared from the Slovene foreign ministry and somehow found its way onto the first pages of magazines and still it is not clear what happened and who is responsible.
As soon I will get any new information I will let you know.
Best regards,
Jan
What I am getting more and more convinced is that this advertisement is or a spoof which besides making strange insinuations is probably also in violation of the copyrights and trade mark legislation.
Law suits in such cases are very complicated if such an advert is not published in printed media as it is very hard to determine who made such an advert, why and how it got on the internet. Just remember all of the cases in which materials were claimed to have been stolen or published by mistake. After all just remember the very recent event in which a document disappeared from the Slovene foreign ministry and somehow found its way onto the first pages of magazines and still it is not clear what happened and who is responsible.
As soon I will get any new information I will let you know.
Best regards,
Jan
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Primary elections in service of advertising
I came across this yesterday while looking for vlogs and I know it is not directly what I set my self to find but I found it fascinating. There are two possible messages to be seen here, the first is the obvious fact that Hillary Clinton is wearing it opponents badge, showing her as fearless of the opposition. The other fact is that Axe is a product intended for men...
Sunday, February 24, 2008
Video memory of president Janez Drnovsek
Yesterday on 23.2.2008 died Janez Drnovsek, the former president of Slovenia and in his memory I'm posting these two videos which are a part of an intervew made with him by Al Jazeera television network.
Friday, February 15, 2008
VLOG BLOG
Vlog blog is a site dedicated to the Vlog, there all the general informations can be found and all of the things conected with vlogging.
I found this vlog made By Gordon Brown talking about how new times and new media demand new ways for reaching the audiences.
I found this vlog made By Gordon Brown talking about how new times and new media demand new ways for reaching the audiences.
Thursday, February 14, 2008
YouTube postings comparison of Clinton and Obama (6.2.2008)
On the day after supertuesday I have decided to do the check-up of what video posts were available on the portals YouTube, portal of the campaign of Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama as it was already clear that that is where the main battle for votes shall be as on the republican side McCain was already in strong lead.
So what I decided was first to examine the 10 results on the first page of results that would appear if I entered the names of the candidates in the YouTube search engine.
When entering Hillary Clinton these were the results:
1. Coulter: I'll campaign for Hillary if McCain is the nominee Published on 31.1. 2008 it is a piece copied from Fox News presenting Hillary as a more conservative as John McCain. It had 65 video responses and 3689 written comments.
2. Keith Olbermann Blasts Hillary Clinton on her Iraq Vote
Published on 2.2.2008 the video deals with Clinton’s reasons for not supporting the 2002 amendment and the critique of such decision. There are 3 video responses and 155 text comments.
3. Vote Different Published on 5.5.2007 is a video mash up of the Apple Mackintosh video, presenting Hillary Clinton as Big Brother figure from Orwell’s novel 1984. The video has today 6 video responses and 21036 text comments published so far.
4. Hillary Clinton Sopranos Parody a video made for the Clinton campaign presenting Hillary and Bill Clinton in a restaurant and choosing a song. 13 Video responses,2366 text comments 434922 views.
5. Hillary Clinton Sings National Anthem A video on which Hillary Clinton sings badly the American anthem. No video responses, 8036 text comments and 1769385 views
6. Debate - Hillary Clinton on illegal immigrants/licenses Video clip from 30.10.2007 debate presenting Clinton as uncertain and unclear on this issue. This video has 60682 views and no video responses of text comments.
7. The Politics of Parsing A video dealing with the debate and unclear issues of the candidate from the debate on 30.11.2007. Video published on 2.11.2007- 13 video responses 2083 comments and377292 views altogether.
8. CNN Interviews Student Who asks Hillary a Planted Question A student claims that she was asked a question that she has been instructed to ask. Video published on 13.11.2007 224519 views no comments or responses.
9. Mike Gravel Exposes Clinton & Obama on Iran, Hillary Cackles Mike Gravel’s attack on Hillary at the democratic debate. Published on 26.9.2007 with 275922 views, 13responses and 2758 comments
10. 236.com: SwiftKids-Hillary Clinton A video made in a documentary way featuring several children presenting Clinton as a man, thief, etc. Published on 9.11.2007 128411 views, 3 video responses and 268 comments.
When entering Barack Obama
1. Barack Obama's response to Bush's final State of the Union Obama presents his views as opposiite to Bush. Posted on 26.1.2008 1088369 views 760 comments
2. Yes We Can - Barack Obama Music Video A music video presenting various famous Obama supporters singing his slogan Yes we can and speaking segments of his speeches.. Published on 2.2.2008 1846345views 59 video responses and 10547 comments.
3. Barack Obama: My Plans for 2008 Barack Obama speaking to his audience about 2008. 666154views. 14video responses and 3690 comments
4. Candidates@Google: Barack Obama Barack Obama visiting google and interview. 116995 views and 0 comments.
5. Barack Obama's Speech at the Jefferson Jackson Dinner Live speech of Obama at the Jefferson Jackson Dinner. 10.11.2007 267558 Views 3video responses 1239 comments
6. Barack Obama "I inhaled frequently" "That was the point" Barack obama admiting using marijuana. 2.11.2007 168176views 566comments
7.FOX ATTACKS OBAMA A composition of televiosion attacks on Obama. Published on 21.2.2007 962176views 12593comments.
8.Meet Barack Obama Presentational video for the candidate. Posted on 19.1.2007 385184 veiws 13 video responses and 1468 comments
9.Barack Obama Iowa Caucus Victory Speech 3.1.2008 276426 views 17 video responses,3514comments.
10.Barack Obama 2004 Democratic National Convention Part 1 The Video of Speech made by Obama in 2004. Published on 16.9.2006, 253978 Views, 1 video response and 1307 comments.
It needs to be said that the search was made on the setting that the results are shown as the most relevant of all time this is the default search setting of You tube and would be found without any changes made and probably the information that a new user would therefore get. What can easily be observed is that Obama search provides a lot more materials that promote him and his campaign and that critics are a lot fewer than in the case of Hillary Clinton. This form me is an indication of how the Obama campaign if far more aware of the importance of these kind of search in trough the search engine of YouTube, making a far better impression than Clinton.
So what I decided was first to examine the 10 results on the first page of results that would appear if I entered the names of the candidates in the YouTube search engine.
When entering Hillary Clinton these were the results:
1. Coulter: I'll campaign for Hillary if McCain is the nominee Published on 31.1. 2008 it is a piece copied from Fox News presenting Hillary as a more conservative as John McCain. It had 65 video responses and 3689 written comments.
2. Keith Olbermann Blasts Hillary Clinton on her Iraq Vote
Published on 2.2.2008 the video deals with Clinton’s reasons for not supporting the 2002 amendment and the critique of such decision. There are 3 video responses and 155 text comments.
3. Vote Different Published on 5.5.2007 is a video mash up of the Apple Mackintosh video, presenting Hillary Clinton as Big Brother figure from Orwell’s novel 1984. The video has today 6 video responses and 21036 text comments published so far.
4. Hillary Clinton Sopranos Parody a video made for the Clinton campaign presenting Hillary and Bill Clinton in a restaurant and choosing a song. 13 Video responses,2366 text comments 434922 views.
5. Hillary Clinton Sings National Anthem A video on which Hillary Clinton sings badly the American anthem. No video responses, 8036 text comments and 1769385 views
6. Debate - Hillary Clinton on illegal immigrants/licenses Video clip from 30.10.2007 debate presenting Clinton as uncertain and unclear on this issue. This video has 60682 views and no video responses of text comments.
7. The Politics of Parsing A video dealing with the debate and unclear issues of the candidate from the debate on 30.11.2007. Video published on 2.11.2007- 13 video responses 2083 comments and377292 views altogether.
8. CNN Interviews Student Who asks Hillary a Planted Question A student claims that she was asked a question that she has been instructed to ask. Video published on 13.11.2007 224519 views no comments or responses.
9. Mike Gravel Exposes Clinton & Obama on Iran, Hillary Cackles Mike Gravel’s attack on Hillary at the democratic debate. Published on 26.9.2007 with 275922 views, 13responses and 2758 comments
10. 236.com: SwiftKids-Hillary Clinton A video made in a documentary way featuring several children presenting Clinton as a man, thief, etc. Published on 9.11.2007 128411 views, 3 video responses and 268 comments.
When entering Barack Obama
1. Barack Obama's response to Bush's final State of the Union Obama presents his views as opposiite to Bush. Posted on 26.1.2008 1088369 views 760 comments
2. Yes We Can - Barack Obama Music Video A music video presenting various famous Obama supporters singing his slogan Yes we can and speaking segments of his speeches.. Published on 2.2.2008 1846345views 59 video responses and 10547 comments.
3. Barack Obama: My Plans for 2008 Barack Obama speaking to his audience about 2008. 666154views. 14video responses and 3690 comments
4. Candidates@Google: Barack Obama Barack Obama visiting google and interview. 116995 views and 0 comments.
5. Barack Obama's Speech at the Jefferson Jackson Dinner Live speech of Obama at the Jefferson Jackson Dinner. 10.11.2007 267558 Views 3video responses 1239 comments
6. Barack Obama "I inhaled frequently" "That was the point" Barack obama admiting using marijuana. 2.11.2007 168176views 566comments
7.FOX ATTACKS OBAMA A composition of televiosion attacks on Obama. Published on 21.2.2007 962176views 12593comments.
8.Meet Barack Obama Presentational video for the candidate. Posted on 19.1.2007 385184 veiws 13 video responses and 1468 comments
9.Barack Obama Iowa Caucus Victory Speech 3.1.2008 276426 views 17 video responses,3514comments.
10.Barack Obama 2004 Democratic National Convention Part 1 The Video of Speech made by Obama in 2004. Published on 16.9.2006, 253978 Views, 1 video response and 1307 comments.
It needs to be said that the search was made on the setting that the results are shown as the most relevant of all time this is the default search setting of You tube and would be found without any changes made and probably the information that a new user would therefore get. What can easily be observed is that Obama search provides a lot more materials that promote him and his campaign and that critics are a lot fewer than in the case of Hillary Clinton. This form me is an indication of how the Obama campaign if far more aware of the importance of these kind of search in trough the search engine of YouTube, making a far better impression than Clinton.
Tuesday, February 5, 2008
And I am back
As you can see I have not made a post for over two weeks, this is due to the hours I have had to spend at work (I had several up to 18 hours consecutive shifts- I can assure you I was wrecked) and there was no new media available for use in sight. In the mean while the American election has reached its boiling point I have been following information for the whole day on www.ccn.com , www.pollster.com and http://www.buzzmachine.com/
That I have all added amongst my recommended links. The last is the blog of Jeff Jarvis a famous journalist which also writes about the election and internet. Very cool stuff, what I find very interesting are the comments to his posts.
What you might notice is that I have changed the image of my blog and that there are some minor new changes.
I have also been thinking about the project that I have set to do and have come to an important conclusion and that is that there are really not enough relevant music videos being posted in the past weeks for them to really matter. I have therefore decided I will have to amplify my line research onto the use of general video posts focusing primarily on you tube that where the postings are the most popular. Also, I shall look at the videos that are being posted on the sites of the candidates. I believe that this change is not too drastic as I have been thinking about it quite a lot. The fact is that most of the music videos which can be found on the internet in relation to political topics are spoofs and parodies which in many cases are of a very poor quality and are often just trying to insult the opposing candidates and are often produced without any original musical material.
I hope to see the entire group tomorrow at eight on online.
Best regards,
J
That I have all added amongst my recommended links. The last is the blog of Jeff Jarvis a famous journalist which also writes about the election and internet. Very cool stuff, what I find very interesting are the comments to his posts.
What you might notice is that I have changed the image of my blog and that there are some minor new changes.
I have also been thinking about the project that I have set to do and have come to an important conclusion and that is that there are really not enough relevant music videos being posted in the past weeks for them to really matter. I have therefore decided I will have to amplify my line research onto the use of general video posts focusing primarily on you tube that where the postings are the most popular. Also, I shall look at the videos that are being posted on the sites of the candidates. I believe that this change is not too drastic as I have been thinking about it quite a lot. The fact is that most of the music videos which can be found on the internet in relation to political topics are spoofs and parodies which in many cases are of a very poor quality and are often just trying to insult the opposing candidates and are often produced without any original musical material.
I hope to see the entire group tomorrow at eight on online.
Best regards,
J
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
Assignment 3
How and why does society change in a certain way is the eternal question of social sciences. The theory of Thecnological determinism offers an explication which is that it is the change in the technology that causes change in the society. In case of modern situation we could easily draw parallels between technologies that enable us easier communication and change in the firm of the communication that such technologies bring. If technological development is in most cases something we look forward to it is also something that scares us. And if we look into the past we can see that the relationship between people and technology has always had these two elements amazement on one and fright on the other side.
It was the time of the industrial revolution that we can observe for the first time how new technologies were changing the economy, landscape and social relations. Steam engine was making Europe smaller, production faster and workers no longer needed at the same time as new nations of Europe were being born. It was from the 19th century onwards that we can observe a stronger dependence on technology in everyday life. New machines were being developed that would make products quicker and in a standardized way and changing the demand of the working force. That there was a change happening in the basic social relationships between the employer and the employee we could understand when Marx wrote “Like any other increase, in the productiveness of labor, machinery is intended to cheapen commodities, and, by shortening that portion of the working-day, in which the laborer works for himself, to lengthen the other portion that he gives, without an equivalent, to the capitalist” (Marx, 2004: 280). Technology has since always had a very important function saving money and time. And like the machines of the 19 century influenced the demands of work force and production in a very drastic way, this is what has happened to the ways and forms of communication in the 20 century.
But even if I believe that we are dependant on the tools that we use, and that each historic society is defined by its tools, these tools were created due to the need of the society, or as McLuhan said how we create our tools and they in turn shape us. It is so that the tools in my personal opinion are shaping the society only to the limit of the societies need and desire to use them. There have been thousands of inventions that have appeared needed and practical but were rejected by the society. The Idea of technological determinism is there fore difficult to use in a way in which we would say that the tools made it possible for a society to achieve a certain level. I believe that this concept is much more useful in way in which we could explore what were the priorities in a certain society by examining which technology was the most used and crucial in a certain time period.
If I would apply these thought to the modern situation I am certain that the communicational capabilities that we use are by far not developed to the limit, but are limited by those who use them. This could be understood by a certain degree with sense of insecurity that many of us feel toward technology that has been in use for a short period of time. As there are many examples of abuse of technology that has appeared benign but has showed its “dark side” after time.
-Daniel Chandler, Technological or Media Determinism. Available at: http://www.aber.ac.uk/media/Documents/tecdet/tecdet.html
-Marx Karl, Engels Friedrich (2004): Communist Manifesto, Wages, Price and Profit, Capital (selections), Socialism: Utopian and Scientific. The Collector’s Library of essential thinkers. London: CRW Publishing Limited
- Slides Technological Determinism of Marshall McLuhan, http://www.usm.maine.edu/com/techdet/sld001.htm
It was the time of the industrial revolution that we can observe for the first time how new technologies were changing the economy, landscape and social relations. Steam engine was making Europe smaller, production faster and workers no longer needed at the same time as new nations of Europe were being born. It was from the 19th century onwards that we can observe a stronger dependence on technology in everyday life. New machines were being developed that would make products quicker and in a standardized way and changing the demand of the working force. That there was a change happening in the basic social relationships between the employer and the employee we could understand when Marx wrote “Like any other increase, in the productiveness of labor, machinery is intended to cheapen commodities, and, by shortening that portion of the working-day, in which the laborer works for himself, to lengthen the other portion that he gives, without an equivalent, to the capitalist” (Marx, 2004: 280). Technology has since always had a very important function saving money and time. And like the machines of the 19 century influenced the demands of work force and production in a very drastic way, this is what has happened to the ways and forms of communication in the 20 century.
But even if I believe that we are dependant on the tools that we use, and that each historic society is defined by its tools, these tools were created due to the need of the society, or as McLuhan said how we create our tools and they in turn shape us. It is so that the tools in my personal opinion are shaping the society only to the limit of the societies need and desire to use them. There have been thousands of inventions that have appeared needed and practical but were rejected by the society. The Idea of technological determinism is there fore difficult to use in a way in which we would say that the tools made it possible for a society to achieve a certain level. I believe that this concept is much more useful in way in which we could explore what were the priorities in a certain society by examining which technology was the most used and crucial in a certain time period.
If I would apply these thought to the modern situation I am certain that the communicational capabilities that we use are by far not developed to the limit, but are limited by those who use them. This could be understood by a certain degree with sense of insecurity that many of us feel toward technology that has been in use for a short period of time. As there are many examples of abuse of technology that has appeared benign but has showed its “dark side” after time.
-Daniel Chandler, Technological or Media Determinism. Available at: http://www.aber.ac.uk/media/Documents/tecdet/tecdet.html
-Marx Karl, Engels Friedrich (2004): Communist Manifesto, Wages, Price and Profit, Capital (selections), Socialism: Utopian and Scientific. The Collector’s Library of essential thinkers. London: CRW Publishing Limited
- Slides Technological Determinism of Marshall McLuhan, http://www.usm.maine.edu/com/techdet/sld001.htm
Monday, January 14, 2008
Celebrity support of the candidates
After nine months of fundraising, the candidates for president in 2008 have already raised about $420 million. This presidential money chase seems to be on track to collect an unprecedented $1 billion total. By some predictions, the eventual nominees will need to raise $500 million apiece to compete--a record sum. Year-end reports are due to the Federal Election Commission by Jan. 31.
The politics and showbusiness have always been strongly connected. The support of the celebrities always came in two ways the financial support and the personal promotional support. In 2004 presidential elections gave the movie, TV and recording industries $33.1 million to federal candidates, which represents an enormous support, but next to the money the celebrities and the entertainment business also promote their candidates trough the media.
For the presidential election 2008 some of the numbers connected with celebrity support are already known and are presented in an article on CNN web site
( http://edition.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/01/13/celebrity.donors.ap/index.html )
Celebrities like Michael Douglas, Sean Penn, Paul Newman, Barbra Streisand, Steven Spielberg, Mary Steenburgen, Oprah Winfrey, Will Smith, Chris Rock, Sidney Poitier and Branford Marsalis, Jamie Foxx, Eddie Murphy, Isaiah Washington, Tyra Banks, Morgan Freeman, Halle Berry, Angela Bassett, Forest Whitaker,George Clooney, Ed Norton, Jennifer Aniston, Zach Braff, John Cleese, Leonard Nimoy, Brooke Shields, Harry Connick Jr., Hill Harper and Rob Reiner have financially supported the campaigns of one or more Democratic candidates Hillary Rodham Clinton, Barack Obama, Bill Richardson and Chris Dodd, Dennis Kucinich. (if you want to see more precise information on which selebrity supports whom see the folowing article:http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-et-cause11jan11,0,7865509.story?coll=la-politics-campaign ).
For the Republican candidates John McCain, Rudy Giuliani, Mitt Romney and Mike Huckabee support and endorsements were given by Pat Boone, Lorne Michaels, Chuck Norris, Kelsey Grammer, Adam Sandler and Ben Stein.
Most of the celebrities gave up to $4.600 dollars per campaign in support of the candidates but were not as generous with public endorsements. Most of the celebrities have namely still not endorsed any of the candidates. What is clearly visible from the two lists is that also in this election the entertainment world is more strongly supporting the Democratic candidates.
The politics and showbusiness have always been strongly connected. The support of the celebrities always came in two ways the financial support and the personal promotional support. In 2004 presidential elections gave the movie, TV and recording industries $33.1 million to federal candidates, which represents an enormous support, but next to the money the celebrities and the entertainment business also promote their candidates trough the media.
For the presidential election 2008 some of the numbers connected with celebrity support are already known and are presented in an article on CNN web site
( http://edition.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/01/13/celebrity.donors.ap/index.html )
Celebrities like Michael Douglas, Sean Penn, Paul Newman, Barbra Streisand, Steven Spielberg, Mary Steenburgen, Oprah Winfrey, Will Smith, Chris Rock, Sidney Poitier and Branford Marsalis, Jamie Foxx, Eddie Murphy, Isaiah Washington, Tyra Banks, Morgan Freeman, Halle Berry, Angela Bassett, Forest Whitaker,George Clooney, Ed Norton, Jennifer Aniston, Zach Braff, John Cleese, Leonard Nimoy, Brooke Shields, Harry Connick Jr., Hill Harper and Rob Reiner have financially supported the campaigns of one or more Democratic candidates Hillary Rodham Clinton, Barack Obama, Bill Richardson and Chris Dodd, Dennis Kucinich. (if you want to see more precise information on which selebrity supports whom see the folowing article:http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-et-cause11jan11,0,7865509.story?coll=la-politics-campaign ).
For the Republican candidates John McCain, Rudy Giuliani, Mitt Romney and Mike Huckabee support and endorsements were given by Pat Boone, Lorne Michaels, Chuck Norris, Kelsey Grammer, Adam Sandler and Ben Stein.
Most of the celebrities gave up to $4.600 dollars per campaign in support of the candidates but were not as generous with public endorsements. Most of the celebrities have namely still not endorsed any of the candidates. What is clearly visible from the two lists is that also in this election the entertainment world is more strongly supporting the Democratic candidates.
Tuesday, January 8, 2008
Let the games begin
The presidential campaign in the States has begun to reveal who the candidates in 2008 campaign will be. The voters of Iowa were the first to vote for the candidates that will run for the president of the country. It is obvious that the public's eye is on the Democratic party which is where the next American president is the most likely to come and in any case it would be something new in the American history. If one of the two most powerful candidates on the democratic side would win, Hillary Clinton would be the first woman president and Barack Obama the first African American president ever.
Their campaign has begun almost a year before and what is also new to the whole thing is the complexity of use of internet as a media of political propaganda.
Sites like www.hillaryclinton.com and www.barackobama.com are both highly interactive and appealing.
But the war for votes also takes place on other parts of the internet. One of the most interesting is the one taking place on you tube. There we can see that even if Se. Clinton was the first to use you tube for its promotion its opponents have taken the opportunity and posted very critical videos of her. So if on 8th of January 2008 you typed inn her name the first five posts are all critics or parodies on her.
If we make a search for Barack Obama we can see that the first five results are all pro-Obama. Obama has been namely very strongly supported by the internet users and probably one of the greatest successes of the whole campaign was the music video made the so called Obama girl: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wKsoXHYICqU.
Their campaign has begun almost a year before and what is also new to the whole thing is the complexity of use of internet as a media of political propaganda.
Sites like www.hillaryclinton.com and www.barackobama.com are both highly interactive and appealing.
But the war for votes also takes place on other parts of the internet. One of the most interesting is the one taking place on you tube. There we can see that even if Se. Clinton was the first to use you tube for its promotion its opponents have taken the opportunity and posted very critical videos of her. So if on 8th of January 2008 you typed inn her name the first five posts are all critics or parodies on her.
If we make a search for Barack Obama we can see that the first five results are all pro-Obama. Obama has been namely very strongly supported by the internet users and probably one of the greatest successes of the whole campaign was the music video made the so called Obama girl: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wKsoXHYICqU.
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