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Has The Internet Turned Its Back On Team Obama?

by Frances Martel | 2:36 pm, March 5th, 2010

» 10 comments

The internet has made definitive revolutionary changes in the way Americans consume their media and interact with their federal government– not exactly a shocking statement. But Michael Scherer at Time Magazine is now proposing that the most tech-savvy government in history is being hurt by its inability to control the flow of information (and misinformation) online.

Since its enemies are constantly in campaign mode while the Obama administration is beleaguered with the arduous task of actually governing, administration officials are having a harder time keeping up with the attacks and their sources than they ever have before. While it seems counte-rintuitive to consider the internet Barack Obama‘s enemy, Scherer might have a point in that a great chunk of the political blogosphere is now the stomping grounds of Republicans, Tea Party activists, and even the radical leftists that resent Obama’s attempts at bipartisanship.

Scherer’s conclusion that the Obama administration is being severely hindered by its complete lack of control over the media is based on his redefining of “news media” to incorporate every important yet often unclassifiable part of the web. It’s as conclusive as it is terrifying. Did you know that “Sarah Palin’s Facebook page, the latest Internet attack videos and that e-mail your aunt just sent you” count as essential elements in “the news cycle”? As much as traditional media might deny it, Scherer is absolutely right. The internet has equalized the playing field such that respected news sources are obsolete and irrelevant, meaning that any way White House opponents may choose to reinterpret their message is fair game. Take for example, the health care debate last summer:

A single phrase — “death panels” — nearly derailed health care reform, as town halls were flooded with angry voters who got their information online. That there was no proposal for anything that resembled a death panel did not matter; the idea went viral anyway.

It is in Scherer’s reasoning of why the Obama administration is losing its battle with the internet where his theory cracks a bit. Rather than point to the simple fact that one very media-savvy group of people could never stand a chance against the innumerable hordes of angry bloggers, he blames the fact that Obama and friends have a job to do: governing. He explains (emphasis mine):

But in a year-end review of communications performance, Pfeiffer and Dunn found that the President often lost control of the conversation by focusing too much on governing while the opposition campaigned against him, exploiting the cyclone’s appetite for controversy even when it lacked a foundation in fact.

Focusing too much on government would probably not have been such a problem if the President were not so vocally championing his views according to statistics Scherer provides himself. 129 press interviews, four prime-time press conferences, two major Congressional addresses and “countless daytime events” do not add up to “too much governing.” That said, the internet is a world where anyone with an opinion can spew it out, and those who would follow it are open to do so regardless of the evidence against it. Obama never really stood a chance.
[photo via Computer Weekly]

barack obama, Democrats, Internet, Michael Scherer, New Media, Republicans, Sarah Palin, tea parties, Time, Time magazine

disgusted

its inability
OR
its inability to control the flow of information (and misinformation) online.?
With MORE gov’t and More gov’t – it soon “trips over – itself!
close reader

Scherer’s conclusion that the Obama administration is being severely hindered by its complete lack of control over the media is based on his redefining of “news media” to incorporate every important yet often unclassifiable part of the web. It’s as conclusive as it is terrifying.

What is so terrifying about the fact that the people now have a voice with which to talk back to their government and its often corrupt, complacent, self-satisfied, smug, know-it-all, and entrenched readers?

Are you suggesting that the Obama administration should have control over the media?
ChrisNH

“…hurt by its inability to control the flow of information.” Well, Glory be. What ELSE would they like to control…the kind of underwear people buy? Leave it to TIME to worry about this from OBAMA’s perspective rather than their own. I swear, some of these Leftist media people would say, ‘What can we do to help?’ if Obama wanted to kidnap and murder their kids. Talk about mind-numbed robots.
close reader

leaders, not readers
ImNotBlue

Since its enemies are constantly in campaign mode while the Obama administration is beleaguered with the arduous task of actually governing, administration officials are having a harder time keeping up with the attacks and their sources than they ever have before.

It’s “enemies?” Is this really how you view people who disagree with Obama? As “enemies.”

I wish I was surprised.
Azarkhan

ImNotBlue: It’s “enemies?” Is this really how you view people who disagree with Obama? As “enemies.”

Of course the staff at Mediaite thinks that way. This site is simply an adjunct to the Huffington Post and the Daily Kos. Mediaite is not even remotely objective. But it does provide amusement, and a look into the leftist mindset.
sueNaustin

I think it is extremely difficult to control the internet, sure, and I think that’s a great thing.

But it must also be extremely frustrating to see how rapidly lies and dissemination abound and are treated as truth. The most recent obvious one being, of course, the Lie of the Year: Death Panels. I think most people were genuinely surprised how easily people can believe the most palpable untruths if they hear it repeated often enough. Or that Democrats want to take Medicare away from old people. I mean, that was pretty damned clever to get seniors to believe that Republicans are concerned about Medicare, a program they hate. How brilliant terrifying vulnerable people with Death Panels and Medicare!
http://www.facebook.com/people/John-Boyer/602168764 John Boyer

The meme that Obama would be succeeding if only the American people just understood his message has been running rampant for the past few months. He doesn’t have a “communication” problem but a policy problem.

And the “death panels” bit was a concern about rationing summed up in a very pointed phrase. The offending passages were removed after Palin mentioned them.
Helix

What this piece shows is that Princess Leia was correct in her Star Wars line to Tarkin, “The more you tighten your grip, Tarkin, the more star systems will slip through your fingers. ” As the administration follows the policies of Anita Dunn and her ilk, by turning the standard media outlets into mouthpieces of the administration, more and more people will get their news elsewhere, such as the Drudge report and other internet sources. They protest at lies, but ignore the lies they tell themselves, in an attempt to hide the poor job of governing they are doing. At Time-Warner, the increase in bias and decrease in quality of their stories has led to a drop in readership of their stable of magazines, and their management wonders why. In the process of getting access to the new administration, they have lost what little independence and credibility they have had for a large section of potential readers. The article cited serves as an example of both their loss of independence and their helpless in the face of larger media forces that they are unable to control.
felixw

No surprise that the Left struggles to “control” the Internet. The Left is always most comfortable with one-way channels of communication in which they hold the podium. The professor at the college lectern, the newscaster on the network TV, the editor at the big city newspaper….these are the roles the Left covets.

But once communication becomes two-way (talk radio, town hall meeting, the web), the Left runs into problems. They don’t like processes in which they don’t control the outcomes, and can set the terms or dialogue. That’s why all these speech control rules imposed at college campuses, and other limitations of freedom of expression always come from the Left these days.

By the way, if you made a list of one-way media and two-way media, you would find that the Left prefers the former, the Right the latter.