What is it with the novelty and gimmick of using online video these days?
Republican Fred Thompson, who created what is probably my favorite video of this campaign, a brush back at Michael Moore complete with cigar and cinematic chair spin (below), will use online video to officially announce his candidacy reports Bob Novak.
Above: Thompson Responds to Michael Moore’s Challenge
The idea that creating a YouTube video is the way to go here still baffles me. Thomson has no shortage of money, and his base probably isn’t the core YouTube demo. He could certainly find a talk show that would happily allow him make his announcement to a far larger group of people at once.
Online video is like any other medium, its value is in the content it displays. The only thing that separates it from traditional media is its allowing creative people to do on their own what previously required a larger budget.
The incentive for politicians appears to be that when they create video online, it gets more press than a campaign ad would on TV. Many of these videos are unique to the medium. If this is what Americans want to see, why not use the same style on TV?
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