White House provides portal for multimedia revolution

Four weeks after coming to power on the back of what was widely dubbed the first Internet election campaign, Barack Obama is establishing himself as the first truly multimedia president. The president's use of the full span of media - from network news to webcasts - has echoes of Franklin D. Roosevelt's "fireside chats" in the radio age and the mastery of television shown by John F. Kennedy. While such use of new media devices has been highlighted, analysts and advertising executives have also been struck by the president's use of "old" media tools such as prime-time television. "He has revitalized the bully pulpit," said Harris Diamond, of Interpublic's constituency management group. "He is the first president who's using all the tools of communication." One medium seems to have eluded the president, however. Talk radio remained "the preserve of the right," Diamond said. Cracking that may be more challenging.