Coming Off The Fence

As the Obama bandwagon rolls on through the primaries in the US I thought that I'd do a little digging in what the various front runner candidates are saying when it comes to digital media.

You can find a full policy statement from Obama here. Perhaps the most significant policies are in support of net neutrality, going in the face of recent developments in Washington. A more in depth critique will follow on this blog in due course.

As with most issues, the Clinton manifesto represents the same viewpoint, but Republican frontrunner John McCain believes that it's up to the market to establish the ground rules (in other words he's against net neutrality but won't say so..).

But, the most telling element of the Barak manifesto covers digital diversity and a stated aim to improve media ownership amongst the ethnic population.

It's ironic that internet TV has opened up a world of possibilities for ordinary people to become broadcasters, but the very nature of the US broadcast industry works strongly against the potential success of such ventures (you just have to look at the 'poor brother' status of PBS to realise this).

Now it seems that TV 2.0 is simply about Google, and perhaps MicroYahoo! becoming part of the media oligopoly dominating the US.

Just how interventionist is Obama willing to be as he needs to court the support of the major TV networks for his full presidential campaign (presuming he gets the nod from the Democrats, of course)?

Comments