New Media and Politics Forum

By: Michael Rivera


New media and voting on elections were hot topics at the “A Revelation In Politics and Media?” Forum on March 8th, 2012. There was a very diverse amount of opinions that ended up debating very well and respectful. Time seemed to fly by, as we hashed out the future of our country, social media, and the 1st amendment. A paneled lecture, followed by question forum, was led by three well-educated men:

Rob Sahr, professor of Political Science at Oregon State University, talked about a site called “American Elect” where you could see all candidates running for the presidential election. He encouraged students to become proactive in voter information and exactly how to find information on candidates. He also spent a great deal of time explaining super pacs,organizations that advertise against political candidates, legislator and social issues. They were created to exercise the freedom of speech in order to persuade others. In my opinion, they are political advertisers.

Rob Priewe, professor of Journalism/Mass Communications at Linn-Benton Community College, shed great light on our 1st amendment rights and how new media has influenced the the last election. I really liked how he delved into President Obama’s campaign, using social media as a way of advertising. Social media is changing the scope of our society and how information is being spread on a fast, wide-scaled forum. This allows not only Obama to become proactive, but for his followers to become involved.

I liked how Priewe gave us no delusion about money in politics: “Lobbying is nothing more than legalized bribery. As long as their is full disclosure, I’m okay with it. There has always been money in politics.” I agree with this statement because it is the simple fact; how do you argue that? Our country stands on the fact that we are able to make money and our government thrives on it. So what if super pacs want to raise a bunch of money and spend it on worthless campaigns? “As long as it isn’t not our money, it doesn’t effect us. I’d rather live in a country of super pacs than a country that tramples on our 1st amendment rights,” says Priewe. This is our freedom and it is one of the few reasons that I am still proud to be an American.

Hasso Hering was, by far, and interesting speaker. Working for the Albany Democrat-Herald, Hering pointed out that people don’t really care about politics today. An interesting quote to ponder: “I, actually, encourage people not to vote unless it effects them,” said Hering. He delved into super pacs as being pointless; saying their money is not doing any good. I found this astonishing since super pacs are very large and have created a large following. In the end, my deal breaker was his comments that social media doesn’t do anything for journalism today. I, strongly, disagree with a lot of what Hering had to say. Journalism is all about updated information, thanks to social media. How would anyone have know about the Haiti incident? Modern journalism is focused around new media!

I remember working for KOBI NBC 5 News in Medford, Oregon. Reporters in the field were able to post on their Twitter and Facebook accounts about breaking news events, with information that mattered. Distinctly, I remembered a wildfire that sparked up on I-5, right around Ashland. I remember the reporter on scene updating every ten minutes of how many houses were catching on fire, alerting people in the area to get out as soon as possible. People even used their Twitter accounts to receive help as flames were creeping up on their houses. Thankfully, no one was injured or died in the incident and social media played a huge role. This is in our state, which validates that claim.

In conclusion, I found them forum very interesting and educational about how our society is vastly changing. I feel more apt to learn about issues, candidates and the use of media after this forum. Politics and campaigning will greatly change in years to come as technology becomes more available. It’s up to us to keep up and be part of that change. We have to power of our right of speech; let’s not waste it, but use it to our advantage.