Media and US politics

The way technology has changed over the past 10 years is very influential to politics in more ways than one.  first, now you can choose the news that you are hearing or watching. Dan Pfeiffer, the White House communications director, recently said, “With the Internet, with YouTube, with TiVo, with cable TV, people are selective viewers now. . . . People approach their news consumption the way they approach their iPod: You download the songs you like and listen to them when you want to listen to them.” With people being able to choose what they watch and when they watch it, it gives people who are campaigning a disadvantage because people don’t have to listen to what they have to say if they don’t want to.  second, by sharing via social media sites. A good example of this is when President Obama announced that he was running for office on a web video and announced his vice present by text message. third, by people being able to like or dislike things on web pages they give politicians a general idea of how the public feels about a certain issue, which helps candidates campaign in a better way to win support. Lastly, internet fundraising has been a very influential strategy used by many politicians such as John McCain, Ron Paul, Barack Obama, and Scott Brown. President Obama raised hundreds of millions from online fundraising throughout his presidential campaign.

http://www.usnews.com/opinion/slideshows/5-ways-new-media-are-changing-politics