The Great YouTube Debate

How much does the internet matter? “A whole lot” might be the most succinct answer, and evidence for it is the influence of such sites as YouTube.com and MySpace.com on the current presidential race.

The Google-owned media outlet YouTube has gained public attention with its announcement yesterday that it would sponsor a presidential debate with CNN. The video submissions used as questions will be collected by YouTube from its members until the day before the debate.

Users can upload their videos now through July 22 on www.youtube.com/debates where they’ll also find tips for getting their video accepted: “Make it look good – speak loudly and keep that camera steady”; “Be original”; “Be personal – your perspective is important.”

—”CNN And YouTube Team Up For Presidential Debates”
by Marisa Guthrie in Broadcasting & Cable, 6/14/2007

Moderated by CNN’s Anderson Cooper, the debate will be aired on CNN July 23. While this debate will include only to the Democratic candidates, the Republican candidates have their own YouTube debate lined up for September 17.

Many people are excited at the prospect of such a seemingly transparent debate—one with original and spontaneous questions from real people, rather than prepped voters planted in the debate’s audience. What might a YouTube submission look like?

Maybe he or she will ask about the war in Iraq — and show clips from a soldier’s funeral. Or a mushroom cloud. If global warming is the issue, the videographer might photoshop himself or herself onto a melting glacier. The question might come in the form of a rap song or through spliced images of a candidate’s contradictory statements.

—YouTube Passes Debates to a New Generation
By Katharine Q. Seelye in The New York Times, 6/14/07

What does this mean for electoral politics? While the “YouTube election” has gained praise from some for the apparent transparency it sheds on electoral campaigns, is it really a boon for candidates and the voting public?

I’m hard pressed to find a way this is anything but good. Sure, there will be videos uploaded that won’t make the cut because they are offensive, too-hot, or simply stupid – but I see this format as a first step towards actual meaningful debates. Too long have the election debates been men in suits asking other men in suits softball questions and getting canned answers back. A debate should be a debate, not a ‘who can give the least-offensive, broadest answer’-a-thon. Technology, and the Internet in particular, is changing politics. As everything becomes more transparent, more things are getting exposed.

—MG Siegler in parislemon, 6/14/07

But, what about those videos that might just be, well, dumb?

This is, after all, the age in which a video of John Edwards fluffing his hair (721,558 views) gains more viewers than that of Bill Richardson announcing his candidacy (1,039 views). Could the rising influence of alternative media and online social networking sites on presidential campaigns mean less of a focus on real issues? Does a YouTube debate trivialize the presidential campaign?

Oh, hooray. We cannot wait to see LonelyGirl47 winsomely ask John Edwards what “poverty” means while crazy Japanese game-show contestants stuff dozens of Hillary Clinton dolls down their pants and those dorks sing questions about the deficit to an old Pixies track.

—Rachel Sklar in Wonkette, 6/14/07

They got rid of ballpens for children, why are we bringing the world’s biggest ballpen (Youtube) to the presidential race?

—T.H.H.E._Cat in Wonkette, 6/14/07

Done badly, it’s democracy as ruled by “American Idol.”

—DashThirtyDash in CNET, 6/14/07

And of course, the big question is this: will this debate really be as revolutionary as its proponents claim? Will the average Joe Citizen actually get his voice heard, or will it merely be another staged affair?

It will just be like every other Q&A session. They will have a run through of the questions before hand and remove questions that they object to. It’s very rare a politician is in a position that they have not prepared an answer.

—Anonymous Coward in Techdirt, 6/14/07

The average person sitting at home behind his or her computer screen isn’t likely to get a chance to ask a presidential candidate a question. Now, anyone with a webcam has the potential to do so. That has got to get at least a few smart people more involved than they ever would have been otherwise. And, that alone seems like a good thing.

—Mike Masnick on Techdirt, 6/14/07

Either internet hipsters will feel like they do matter to the political process or they will see through the smoke screen and retreat further into seclusion and it will be years before any major internet political effort is launched again

—Sanguine Dream in Techdirt, 6/14/07

The only way to know will be to tune into CNN come July 23 and check out the results. In the meantime, get your webcam working and start editing clips for your own submission—you have until July 22 to send in your own creative venture to provoke a real answer from these candidates.