August 2008

An ABC News producer was arrested outside a downtown hotel here Wednesday while he and a camera crew tried to shoot footage of corporate donors leaving a meeting with a group of Democratic senators. Asa Eslocker, who works with the network's investigative unit, was charged with trespass, interference and failure to follow a lawful order. He was released four hours later on a $500 bond. "We expect to see this kind of behavior in Myanmar, not in Denver, Colorado, at a national political convention where a reporter is trying to videotape big-money donors trying to meet with elected officials," said ABC spokesman Jeffrey Schneider. Footage of the incident showed one police officer pushing Eslocker as the producer backpedaled across the street, and another officer placing his hand around Eslocker's neck. Eslocker kept saying that it was a public street and asking what law he was violating. Schneider said Esocker never entered the Brown Palace Hotel, where the meeting was taking place.

The 10 to 11 p.m. hour on the first night of the Democratic National Convention attracted approximately 22.3 million viewers, according to Nielsen Media Research, compared with the approximately 18.5 million who watched it in 2004.

It's official, support for Network Neutrality, media diversity, public interest obligations, and free airtime for candidates are officially enshrined in the Democratic platform. The platform, which was approved by the Democratic Convention delegates Monday, was put up for a vote by a former top media executive, ex-Discovery Channel President Judith McHale, who is co-chair of the platform committee. The platform, which is the party's official position on a variety of issues, includes a promise to "protect the Internet's traditional openness," as well as to ensure access to broadband by all and the naming of a chief technology officer whose job will include overseeing the creation of an interoperable communications network. The platform reflects Sen Barack Obama's stated belief that he favors technology over government regulation of content. "We will give parents the tools and information they need to manage what their children see on television and the Internet in ways fully consistent with the First Amendment," says the party.

If online "friends" were a proxy for voters, Barack Obama could accept the Presidency, and not just the Democratic nomination, on Aug. 28. With more than 1.8 million supporters on Facebook and MySpace (NWS), Obama's base on the leading U.S. social networks is nearly seven times that of John McCain. But history hasn't shown that online supporters turn out in November. If anything, it's proved the opposite. Remember the Deaniacs? Howard Dean's supporters were all over social networks such as Meetup.com in 2004, making the current Democratic National Committee chairman the presumptive nominee that year. But Dean's overwhelming Web support didn't translate into dominance in the primaries. Already, some of Obama's highest-profile online supporters have proved fair-weather friends at the polls. The famed "Obama Girl," whose video about having a crush on the politician has been watched nearly 9.3 million times on YouTube, reportedly didn't vote in February's primary in New Jersey, where she is registered. Obama's campaign and the social networks themselves are determined to make sure this election will be different. They're employing a variety of techniques unique to social networks, such as leveraging users' friend connections, to try to ensure that supporters turn out in November. "There is a huge difference between 2004 and 2008 because of social media," maintains Andrew Rasiej, co-founder of the Personal Democracy Forum.