Web Journals Make Media, Activist Impact

[La_Serpiente]

Web Journals Make Media, Activist Impact

By ANICK JESDANUN, AP Internet Writer

Web journals like Joshua Marshall's have become indispensable this campaign season: They mobilize supporters, question traditional media coverage and feed the insatiable appetites of political junkies.

A powerful new networking tool for the politically plugged-in and hangers-on, the constant online chatter broadens campaign discourse and accelerates the news cycle.

Such journals, known as blogs, may not be doing much to sway undecided voters, but analysts say they strongly impact the media, campaign consultants and activists.

"A blog's not going to have the same reach as a Washington Post or USA Today or an AP article," said Cameron Barrett, a longtime blogger now with Wesley Clark (news - web sites)'s campaign. "But it does have reach, and people consistently go to online blogs to find information that traditional media ignore."

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Web Journals Make Media, Activist Impact

[JasonDeter]

1. Here's a fantastic website.

Hogging the Spotlight
http://campaigndesk.org/


Did it seem to you that the four moderators spoke about as much as the candidates in last night's Democratic debate? Me too. Having some time on my hands, I decided to see if my hunch was accurate. Here's what I found out:

Peter Jennings spoke more words than each of three candidates: Gen. Wesley Clark, Rep. Dennis Kucinich, and Rev. Al Sharpton. Jennings spoke nearly as many words as Gov. Howard Dean, who was expected to be the focus of this debate. In total, 30 percent of the words spoken came from one of the four moderators/questioners.


Here's the full run-down, in total words spoken:

Candidates
Edwards: 2641
Kerry: 2128
Lieberman: 2089
Dean: 1968
Clark: 1619
Kucinich: 1550
Sharpton: 1532

Moderators/Questioners
Jennings: 1870
Hume: 1403
Griffith: 1296
Di Staso: 1185