Blogs, jornalismo e política

- Artigo de Kathy Kiely, do USA Today, falando da grande influência que os blogs estão exercendo no jornalismo político nos EUA, bem como na própria política:

In the 2004 election, the boys (and girls) on the bus have been joined by a new class of political arbiters: the geeks on their laptops. They call themselves bloggers. Their mission: to remake political journalism and, quite possibly, democracy itself. The plan: to run an end around big media by becoming publishers on the Internet.

O artigo também dá um gancho importante para a matéria da Wired deste mês, sobre a "invenção" da candidatura de Howard Dean para ser o grande opositor de Bush nas eleições norte-americanas. Dean foi praticamente obrigado a concorrer pela vaga no Partido Democrata, graças ao apoio que surgiu em torno de seu nome na Internet, levado adiante sobretudo por blogueiros e seus blogs.

The biggest news of the political season has been the tale of this small-state governor who, with the help of Meetup.com and hundreds of bloggers, has elbowed his way into serious contention for his party's presidential nomination. As every alert citizen knows, Dean has used the Net to raise more money than any other Democratic candidate. He's also used it to organize thousands of volunteers who go door-to-door, write personal letters to likely voters, host meetings, and distribute flyers. (...) They feel they have a right to be proud. Dean has become the front-runner by applying their most cherished rules for attracting attention and building a social network on the Internet.

Ambos os artigos nos fazem pensar no papel de meio de organização política e transformação de redes sociais que a Internet pode proporcionar.