Image Making: MSM vs New Media?
Greg Sargent breaks it down on the role of mainstream media in shaping John Kerry's image. Money quote:
Technorati tags: Drudge / John+Kerry / new+media / mainstream+media / greg+sargent
To whatever extent Kerry was seen as an elitist by the electorate, big news orgs like the Post were every bit as instrumental in shaping that image in the minds of voters as Drudge was, and almost certainly more so. As for the debatable point made by Mehlman, which is that the big news orgs "have to" follow Drudge, in Kerry's case "old media" didn't just simply follow Drudge, they all too often actively pushed the same storylines.When it is about taking credit for something positive, the mainstream media is all over it. When it is about taking blame for something negative, they immediately point to blogs and new media. This is becoming commonplace and far too predictable. As Sargent implies, although a new media source may break a story, it often wouldn't, as they say, get legs, without the help of more traditional outlets.
Technorati tags: Drudge / John+Kerry / new+media / mainstream+media / greg+sargent
