Interesting stuff. Do you think the USA is actually behind on this? I can only understand English so my global knowledge is limited, but for me video on the web for political purposes is still in its infancy everywhere, and we've mostly only seen token gestures so far.
Is there someone here familiar with the German scene that can tell us if it really has exploded there, or is this article just over-stating things? Im not surprised that the smaller parties are embracing it. They get less opportunity to get their message out via mainstream media. If their message is too far let or right of centre, they are likely to be ignored by mainstream TV etc. Wheras for the big parties, they already get enough coverage, their challenge is coming up with something believable to say, and vlogging probably cant help with that :D So yeah perhaps an area that vlogging can help with politics is by opening up the dodgy 2 party systems a bit more. It can erode the advantages that the main parties have, but I wouldnt expect it to have a dramatic effect on the way people vote, well maybe one day. Steve Elbows --- In [email protected], "Jay dedman" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > Has someone already posted this article? > http://tinyurl.com/y4fukz > Germany is beginning to grasp videoblogging in a way that US politics > srangely hasnt realy gotten yet. > > jay > __________________ > > "But Germany is practically alone in the proliferation of political > video podcasts, an experiment that in many ways is riskier than text > and audio but still growing quickly even as high-profile practitioners > like Merkel strive to find their footing. > > Germany's far-left coalition, Die Linke, began putting short video > statements online as part of a minimum-wage campaign in the spring. > After Merkel's first podcast aired June 8, it was a small leap for the > opposition party, which often struggles to get coverage in mainstream > publications, to put regular spots online. > > "We said, 'OK, if they're ignoring us, we'll use a platform where > people can see us directly,'" says party spokesman Steffen Twardowski. > "Young people read the newspaper less and less anyway, so we need to > use media they prefer." Now seven of the coalition's parliamentarians > share a weekly video podcast. > > On the opposite end of the spectrum, Germany's far-right NPD party > announced in September that it would start a weekly news podcast, a > way to push fringe views that are only quasi-legal here. Two neo-Nazi > broadcasts were soon posted on YouTube -- and removed within days. The > party has pledged to begin streaming straight from its website soon. > > The common appeal of the varied messages seems to be the lack of a > middleman. "It's information straight from the chancellor, unfiltered > by the media," says Uwe Spindeldreier, head of the government's press > and information office. >
