Internet Rocks the Vote in 2008 Presidential Election

This year's presidential race is historic in more than one way. Not only are the candidate themselves pushing the envelope of the typical presidential nominees, but the way in which they have been covered is breaking precedent as well. The Internet has taken the reigns as king of political coverage, and as November 4th quickly approaches, Internet news mediums are solidifying their place as the best outlets for voters.


Internet Talks Politics


So why do politics go hand-in-hand? It's simple really.

1. The Internet offers a limitless amount of room for information.


2. Readers can find news sites that lean for/against their personal stance.


3. Information at will with an option to take it or leave it.


4. Link journalism - find out what others have to say.


5. Internet offers instant news straight from the campaign trail.

The best features about online political news is that it's not limited by time or word count, and that the news readers decide to read is based on the reader's personal interest in a given subject. Readers that need more information about one topic versus another are given that freedom on the Web where they are forced to read whatever is printed that day in the Los Angeles Times, or other publications.

More so still, link journalism - as seen with the Washington Post's Political Browser - is doing more for politics reporting than what once was even fathomable. Link journalism is allowing publications to outsource and give their readers more information than the confines of a paper will allow. This idea of putting readers on other Web sites has truly made the Internet news consumer one step ahead of the game since this particular newspaper has put their reader first, and their click count second.

Print and Broadcast Journalism

Print journalism has always been an invaluable source for election and campaign coverage leading to the day and age of online news outlets. Print journalism has been quickly replaced with the immediacy of online news. Another hit for print comes from the fact that papers are revering to their old days and endorsing candidates - which is a big turn off for many news consumers. At least news on popular news blogs, such as the Drudge Report, readers know what they're getting into and expect political bias to shine through. In print journalism, however, many of the papers serve the masses and the masses - for the most part - expect unbiased news.

While broadcast is more straight shooter than print, the time crunch really limits what viewers get to see in terms of political coverage. Broadcast journalism can only devote a fraction to issue that may deserves entire half-hour or hour coverage. With broadcast journalism, time and space matters, and unfortunately, sometimes politics get the ultimate squeeze.

My Personal Preference

CNN does an amazing job of keeping the news to the point in an in-and-out kind of style. Through CNN.com and it's bulleted grafs that summarize the story, I'm able to weave in-and-out of a piece without the fluff - something every news source should aspire to do.