[infoshare] Obama to use Web videos for presidential address
- From: "Luis Guerra" <jerseypalisades@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: "current events" <peeps-current-events@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sat, 15 Nov 2008 01:00:56 -0500
Obama to use Web videos for presidential address
By ANN SANNER - 4 hours ago
CHICAGO (AP) - This isn't your grandfather's fireside chat.
President-elect Barack Obama plans to tape a weekly address not just for
radio listeners, as presidents have for years, but for YouTube Internet
viewers,
too.
Well, what else would you expect from a president born at the tail end of
the baby boom?
Connecting the White House hearth to the American home, Franklin Roosevelt
talked to the people through the radio, with crackling broadcasts delivered
near
a crackling fire. John F. Kennedy and Ronald Reagan mastered television. For
Obama, who built a big part of his campaign on the Internet, it's YouTube.
About 75 years after Roosevelt used a new medium to reach out during
troubled times, the president-elect is doing the same with Web videos.
Obama was recording a four-minute address Friday at his transition office in
Chicago. It will be posted Saturday through a YouTube link on his transition
Web site,
http://www.change.gov
. And he will continue to do the videos when he takes office on Jan. 20.
And he won't be the only one in his administration taking a starring role
online.
Transition leaders and policy advisers will also appear in videos on a
regular basis, Obama spokeswoman Jen Psaki said. Other officials, such as
Cabinet
members, could also take part.
President George W. Bush hasn't videotaped his radio addresses for online
viewing as Obama plans to do, the White House said. YouTube wasn't around
when
Bush came into office, though podcasts of his addresses are available on
iTunes, and the audio is posted on
http://www.whitehouse.gov.
The Saturday radio addresses were initiated by Reagan and have evolved into
a weekly fixture of the presidency, accompanied by a response from the party
out of power.
Still, relatively few people actually hear them on the radio, and Obama is
hoping to reach many more with what his transition team calls a "multimedia
opportunity."
The videos are part of the team's effort to build on a campaign model that
helped Obama reach millions of voters online during the presidential race.
It's
a potentially powerful electronic tool in new digital outreach effort aimed
at supporters and others interested in being connected to the activities of
the Obama White House. The Web site and videos allow him to bypass the
traditional media and reinforce his message online.
On the campaign trail, Obama promised to use the Internet to make his
administration more open and interactive, offering a detailed look at what's
going
on in the White House on a given day or asking people to post comments on
his legislative proposals.
The transition team plans to use videos to keep people posted on
developments as Obama prepares to take the oath of office, Psaki said.
A two-minute video of Obama adviser Valerie Jarrett is already on the Web
page. In it, Jarrett discusses recent staff decisions and the ethics policy
in
place for the transition.
"We'll be back frequently to give you updates," she tells watchers.
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