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Blogs and YouTube: An electoral weapon for India
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Nov. 8th, 2006 | 07:18 pm
If IT works right for this country - not merely in the "creation of wealth" that ails us all in Namma Bengalooru, but in creating opportunities for those it has consistently pushed aside -- the eyewash known as the Great Indian Election will be a different kind of charade. One more pleasant, surely.
Yes, I know it is not like me to wax eloquent on subjects serious - after all, I am cut out to obsess myself with love and longing and such trifles. But here I digress...
It started with reading this brilliant story in The New York Times about how blogs and YouTube are taking the lead in election reporting - particularly about problems with electronic voting and other shams. Imagine the impact that something like this would have on the election scene in India, where shenanigans are the only real currency beside election-time homilies from the netas.
Imagine videos of booth capturing and other electioneering tricks being consumed as they happen. It would give grassrots regional language reporting such a boost.
The Times is exercising its voice this election, because this time there is a government to vote out, a government that will not carry on the dismal precedent it has set. On Sunday, it carried an excellent opinion piece titled The Difference Two Years Made, in which it said: Republican leaders, particularly in the House, have developed toxic symptoms of an overconfident majority that has been too long in power. They methodically shut the opposition — and even the more moderate members of their own party — out of any role in the legislative process. Their only mission seems to be self-perpetuation.
Lessons to learn for our celebrity-obsessed media.
Well, how much can you muzzle democracy, anyway?
Yes, I know it is not like me to wax eloquent on subjects serious - after all, I am cut out to obsess myself with love and longing and such trifles. But here I digress...
It started with reading this brilliant story in The New York Times about how blogs and YouTube are taking the lead in election reporting - particularly about problems with electronic voting and other shams. Imagine the impact that something like this would have on the election scene in India, where shenanigans are the only real currency beside election-time homilies from the netas.
Imagine videos of booth capturing and other electioneering tricks being consumed as they happen. It would give grassrots regional language reporting such a boost.
The Times is exercising its voice this election, because this time there is a government to vote out, a government that will not carry on the dismal precedent it has set. On Sunday, it carried an excellent opinion piece titled The Difference Two Years Made, in which it said: Republican leaders, particularly in the House, have developed toxic symptoms of an overconfident majority that has been too long in power. They methodically shut the opposition — and even the more moderate members of their own party — out of any role in the legislative process. Their only mission seems to be self-perpetuation.
Lessons to learn for our celebrity-obsessed media.
Well, how much can you muzzle democracy, anyway?
pg here
from: anonymous
date: May. 20th, 2007 05:00 am (UTC)
Link
yeah, I think we should spend some time exchanging emails about what america thinks democracy is and what the indians think democracy is.
you want to set up something?
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