2008 Election

Hybrid Media Love Fest at HuffPost Luncheon

By Maegan Carberry ⋅ August 26, 2008 ⋅   Email this post ⋅  Digg This ⋅  Share on Facebook ⋅  Print this post ⋅ Post a comment

A cast of entertainment, media and political heavyweights discussed the role of new media in the 2008 election this afternoon. Moderated by Charlie Rose, the lineup included Rahm Emanuel, George Stephanopoulos, WaPost’s Katharine Weymouth, Will.i.am, YouTube’s Chad Hurley and the guy who plays Barack Obama on Saturday Night Live.

While a lot of the usual arguments were being made, Will.i.am stole the show (to much applause) by talking about passion and inspiration. Noting that stepping out politically as he has this year is “detrimental” to his career, he said “I’m willing to take that risk for my country” because he’s been so inspired by BO. He was also convinced that the web would enable more people to connect and communicate without the corporate revenue-driven model that predominates creativity and information. And for my E & P readers, he also argued that entertainment information is a viable source of news (which I’m not entirely convinced on; it really should be more of an entry point).

Since I’m jetting off to The Big Tent now, I’m going to bullet point some other things that stood out to me:

- Rahm Emanuel argued that the web is 2008’s equivalent to Bush’s tactic of mobilizing church groups in 2004. He also said the next step is how the example of BO’s candidacy will lead local politicians to implement new media strategies.
- Charlie Rose asked George Stephanopoulos why the Republicans haven’t embraced the internet (because they’re too busy gabbing on talk radio!!) and he said they didn’t have the right talent, like BO has Facebook’s Chris Hughes.
- SNL guy (sorry I can’t remember your name right now! I’ll look it up later!) said that he is most interested in seeing how comments evolve in 2012, which is one of the things I’m interested in too. They are such a great value in terms of interactivity and expanding the conversation, but they’re expensive to moderate and crowded with drivel.
- I also caught up with WaPost publisher Katharine Weymouth and talked about preserving reporting resources for newspaper brands in the new media realm and she really seemed to get it. She was realistic about the non-competitive nature of the web. She also said she thinks readers will enjoy vertical-driven information, where they can access the things they like most. We both expressed concern with that model, however, that readers would not benefit from the stumbled-upon factor of news they don’t seek out directly. I suggested that it may be made up for through social networking, since friend recommendations and sites like Digg serve as entry point to news you weren’t necessarily tuned into.
- And finally, I was pleased to see my former governor, Gray Davis, working the crowd. I wondered what happened to that guy! Call it a comeback?

I’ll be interviewing Digg’s marketing director on W&W at 4:30, and Digby joins us at 6pm for the regularly scheduled show. And now … off to search for disgruntled HRC supporters!!
UPDATE: My agent notes that SNL guy is Fred Armisen. Thx!!