Media and political experts at a panel discussed Wednesday night whether Web sites like YouTube have added to the democratic process or have made politicians more scripted.
"This has put a lot of pressure on all of the candidates to become more on message, more robotic, less spontaneous," said Jeanne Cummings, a political reporter for Politico.com, referring to slipups caught on film and then circulated on YouTube.
Most videos posted on YouTube focus on negatives, rarely on positives, she said.
The panel was an American Forum on the impact of the Internet and other new media technologies on the 2008 campaign. Other panelists disagreed with Cummings, saying the Internet has led to greater honesty and has put power in the hands of the people through Web sites like 10questions.com, which lets people post questions for candidates.
"I would say that we are having this awesome cleansing process in our politics, where the idiots are getting weeded out," said Adam Green, the campaign director for MoveOn.org. He cited the "Better Know a District" segment on Stephen Colbert's show, "The Colbert Report," where the host interviews congressmen who often misspeak.
Democrats have been more successful than Republicans in using the power of the Internet, according to Green and Josh McConaha, Internet director for the Democratic National Committee. The College Democrats of America have been a key part of the DNC's outreach in 2008, McConaha said.
But the Internet is constantly changing, and no one can claim the upper-hand for long, said Cyrus Kohn, the e-campaign director of the Republican National Committee.
Candidates might have to watch what they say because of the Internet, but they are also benefiting financially through fundraising on the Web. Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., has been the best at fundraising online, according to Cummings.
"All of the candidates are trying to have some presence on the Internet, to use the Internet to raise money," Cummings said. "Some of them are very aggressive, some of them are pretty good at, some of them are just OK at it, but everybody's out there."
WAMU, the School of Communication and The Eagle co-sponsored the event.
