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The US Mass Media

	Mass Media Hot Links Mass Media General The Media and their Messages. Freedom of the press, newspapers, radio, and television. --- The link gives information on the four mass media types: newspapers, magazines, radio, and television. The Media in the United States. --- It gives many additional links along with data on the mass media forms including online journalism. Mass Media Issues The Role of Media in Democracy: a strategic approach. --- A PDF 48 page link on the role of a free media in securing a free society. The Role of a Free Media. --- By John W. Johnson. The Role of the Media in a Democracy. --- By George A. Krimsky. Media in the United States. --- By Anup Shah. The Mass Media Elections Guide 2004. --- Media Links The links below lead you to authentic sources of information on different issues taking place both in the US and other countries. Be aware that articles may be from the USA perspectives. http://www.nytimes.com/ http://www.washingtonpost.com/ http://www.usatoday.com/ http://csmonitor.com/ http://www.time.com/time/ http://www.forbes.com/ http://www.npr.org/ http://www.cnn.com/ http://www.msnbc.msn.com/ http://abc.go.com/ http://www.nbc.com/ You may subscribe to some of the papers and receive daily updates on various events. *PDF -- You need Adobe® Reader® installed to view a PDF document. It is available for free from the Adobe web site. A different application, smaller in size (about 2MB), is here.

The Subject Sampler on the Internet's Larger Role in the US Election 2008

Introduction

ith the appearance of new technologies, approaches in developing web data, the Internet is getting dramatically attractive to the people from different walks of life in terms of getting updated on events, reaching the audience and getting their feedback.

In fact the Internet has turned to a multimedia source that enjoys texts, pictures, audio and video. These features are true for both professional mass media sites and those which many people develop together. They are called Social Networking Sites.

The purpose of this Subject Sampler activity is to give you an idea about the ways the presidential nominees (Barack Obama and John McCain) tried to harness the powers of the Internet and to think of the reasons for the Internet's increased role in the campaign 2008.

Task

You are expected to make a personal commitment to what you like, believe, or feel about a topic. You are to complete the activity alone.

Also, you are expected to try to figure out the answer to the Big Question.

Process and Resources

Please, feel free to use one of the online dictionaries or one at hand.

The following WWW links represent the Internet as one of the key elements of political marketing in 2008 US presidential election campaign.

1. PERSONAL COMMITMENT. Choose one article below [if none is assigned to you] and follow the instructions to complete the task.

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   Instructions
   - Read through your article.
   - Make a note of the most interesting/important 3-5 points made in the article.
   - Describe in writing what your beliefs are concerning those points.

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   1. "Election 2008: Web Gains but TV Still Rules." If there is an ad after opening the page, skip it by clicking on "SKIP THIS WELCOME SCREEN" in the upper right corner or wait till the article opens in a few seconds.
   2. "Will the 2008 USA election be won on Facebook?"
   3. "Internet Influence on Election 2008."
   4. "Election 2008: Measuring the Power of 'Netroots'."
   5. "Media and the Election."
   6. "The Media's Election."
   7. "The Web's Role In The 2008 U.S. Presidential Election."
   8. "Commentary on the impact of the internet on the 2004 election."
   9. "Growing Internet role in election."
   10. "Election 2008: The Internet Campaign."
   11. "YouTube in Election 2008."
   12. "Study: Americans use Net to look beyond sound bite."


2. BIG QUESTION. What were the reasons for the Internet's larger role in 2008 election campaign? There is no obvious answer to the question in the articles. But you can come up with your own ideas. Comparisons with your local realities or your country [not the USA] at large are welcome. For Public Relations [Svyazi s Obshestvennostyu] students the proposed comparisons are a requirement.

Conclusion

he Internet is becoming extremely reaching and accessible due to advanced gadgets, computers and applications. They provide new dimensions in news updates, business and social communications, education, political marketing and lots more.

In the past it was an organization who would deliver information on its website and the public had to be consumers only. Nowadays with the help of Social Networking Sites [SNS] the 'consumers' are becoming 'sellers' too. Everyone can develop the information he/she likes and thus be a part of a large mass media community.

Barack Obama and John McCain extensively used this feature of the Internet.

The Mass Media and the War Actions over South Ossetia

With the start of the conflict over South Ossetia and watching US TV news channels like CNN and Fox News along with Russian Vesti (http://www.vesti.ru/) on the Internet, anyone could realize that the mass media really played a significant role in shaping the public opinion.

Along with the combat troops on the ground firing at each other, there was another war that involved all kinds of mass media. It was information war. That war was no more between Georgia and South Ossetia. Large nations like the USA and Russia were entailed in eventually.

"CNN, the most trusted name in news" is an assertion given by CNN itself. There are many questions about the objectivity during the crisis but it is a fact that at least at the very beginning of the conflict the U.S. media and Georgian president [thanks to his good command of English] did a good job. Now, many Americans incline to think that 'Russia invaded Georgia' and had 'intention to dismantle democracy' there.

Questions

Was there any mistake by Russia in attempt to shape the public opinion overseas?

You [students only] can answer the question in a form of a short blog essay.

Before presenting your ideas, you are expected to do research into the issue by answering the questions below.

• Do you agree with the ideas given in the articles 'Поединок в эфире/Fight on the air' and 'Как воевала пресса/How the media fought'?
• Do you think the US and Russian mass media have been objective on the events around South Ossetia/Georgia? [Use search engines like Yandex.ru and Google.com to find more information.]

On August 14, 2008, I was watching Fox News channel and heard how Bill O'Reilly (a Fox News anchor) said 'Putin has a fifth column here in a good old USA' meaning MSNBC channel. You can see the video here (Bill-O Calls MSNBC "Fifth Column" in USA For Putin).

Another video (Venal American Media FOX NEWS about South Ossetian Conflict) shows that Fox News can become the fifth column itself.

A Free Press? Not This Time. By Olga Ivanova. Friday, August 15, 2008. Olga is a reporter for 'Komsomolskaya Pravda - Irkutsk'. She wrote this article for 'The Washington Post'.