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YouTube to YouBama

BY Ari Melber | Wednesday, January 30 2008

A new website is talking back to Obama's YouTube video hits. Read More

Obama Doubles Down on YouTube

BY Ari Melber | Sunday, January 27 2008

What do anime, a nude Charlotte Ross and Barack Obama have in common? Read More

Hope Will Not Be Televised: Obama YouTube vs. Clinton Clash

BY Ari Melber | Wednesday, January 23 2008

They won't tell you on TV, but people are watching Obama's new speech. Disintermediation is alive on YouTube. Read More

SNADFU: Obama Campaign Places Nevada Ad in South Carolina

BY Alan Rosenblatt | Tuesday, January 15 2008

Managing placements of online ads can be a challenge, as the Obama campaign recently learned. With more caucuses and primaries approaching, his campaign accidentally placed an ad for Nevada on a South Carolina TV news ... Read More

Trippi: Unplugged in Iowa

BY Ari Melber | Tuesday, January 8 2008

Joe Trippi is one of the few political consultants who speaks frankly, even to the detriment of his clients, and loves democracy even more than he loves politics. I caught up with him for an hour-long conversation about ... Read More

"Swiftboating" themselves into a tizzy: Clinton, Obama, and Novak

BY Morra Aarons-Mele | Saturday, November 17 2007

Do you think Robert Novak is sitting somewhere with Karl Rove, polishing edits to their respective columns, and laughing as Obama and Clinton's campaigns go into overdrive to defend themselves against an alleged piece of ... Read More

Obama "New Hampshire at War" Video

BY Spencer Overton | Wednesday, October 3 2007

Increasingly, new tools are empowering local "amateur" campaign staffers to produce quality content centered around local people. Read More

Facebook Profile Reveals Guiliani's Daughter Supports Obama

BY Colin Delany | Monday, August 6 2007

Or, at least she did until this morning — shortly after a reporter contacted her, she pulled out of the Facebook group "Barack Obama (One Million Strong for Barack)." Slate has details; Caroline Giuliani and her ... Read More

ObamaGirl Video Only a Distraction if the Media Makes It One

BY Colin Delany | Monday, June 18 2007

Take a look at Media Matters today for a glimpse of the potential problems with mixing citizen-generated content and our current political culture — how segments of the mainstream media react when they're presented ... Read More

Presidential Parody '08

BY Alan Rosenblatt | Wednesday, March 21 2007

I did a quick search on Google for "President 2008" hoping to find a collection of links to the major candidates. After all, some people think the campaign has already started. But instead of finding Hillary, ... Read More

News Briefs

RSS Feed today >

New Report Says Canadian Politicians’ "Digital Offices" Need a Makeover

Canada has seen steep drops in political participation of late, as well a general decline in political engagement, according to Samara, a Canadian non-profit dedicated to improving political participation. The organization believes their MPs’ lackluster online presence has something to do with it; they released a report last week, detailing their survey of websites for Canada’s MPs. GO

tuesday >

Tech Journos in Iran Arrested For "Contact With Foreign Media," Among Other Charges

In the past three weeks 24 journalists, bloggers and technologists at online media companies have been arrested by Iran's elite force of revolutionary guards. Yesterday, some of those arrested appeared on state television, handcuffed and with their faces to the wall, obscuring their identity.

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For Transparency Advocates, NYPD Crime Map is Just A Starting Point

The NYPD on Sunday released a map showing the locations of major felony incidents such as murders, rape, grand larceny and robbery within the past two years, but transparency advocates say that the new map is just a starting point in the effort to gain more transparency. GO

International Human Rights Day in Vietnam Marked By Launch of Blogger Network

Today a coalition of Vietnamese bloggers launched the Network of Vietnamese Bloggers (NVB), a new advocacy and watchdog group that will hold the Vietnamese government accountable for their United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) obligations and commitments. The launch was set for December 10 to coincide with International Human Rights Day.

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monday >

Japanese PM Thinks His People Just Don't Understand The State Secrecy Bill

In spite of objections from human rights activists and members of the media around the world, Japan's upper chamber made the controversial State Secrecy Protection Bill law in a “raucous, late-night session” last Friday, December 6, Reuters reports. The House of Representatives passed the bill on November 26. Under the new law, state employees could be jailed for up to 10 years if they leak secrets, and journalists could be jailed for up to five if they use “grossly inappropriate” tactics to uncover state secrets. The passage of the bill has sparked uncharacteristically large protests in a country where protesters have often been considered a part of the political fringe.

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friday >

Twitter Angling For More International Users

Twitter is following Facebook and Google's lead in creating an avenue for feature phone users to access their service, even without an Internet connection. They have partnered with the Singapore-based company U2opia Mobile, Reuters reports.

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thursday >

Pakistanis Show Their Love For YouTube in Vimeo Video

Although YouTube (the website) has been banned in Pakistan for more than a year now, that didn't keep YouTube (the mascot) from walking the streets of Karachi last month, asking for hugs from Pakistanis who want the video sharing site back. The self-described citizens resistance forum Pakistan for All filmed the stunt as part of their #KholoBC campaign, which opposes Internet censorship and content regulation by the government.

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wednesday >

Examining Russia's Censorship Record

Russia wants to protect children. That is their excuse for a law that gives them the power to selectively censor Internet content. Information about homosexuality or suicide, which Russia refers to as propaganda, are among the banned subjects deemed harmful to children. Earlier this year a Russian prosecutor asked a court to block the website Pobedish.ru (“you win”), part of the suicide prevention resource group Perezhit.ru, which incorporates input from psychologists, psychiatrists, forensic experts and the clergy. Because that makes sense.

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