The Internet and

Politics
Why does it matter and how do you use it to your
advantage?
 Why should politics
matter to you...
• Soon you will enter college/the work force and
will realize how fast money comes into your
hands...you will also learn how fast it gets taken
away.

• Government decides where your money goes, if

you vote for someone with similar ideas as you,
your precious tax money will be more likely to
go to support ideas and views that are relevant to
you.
 You’re in High
• You may School...
be newly 18 and are possibly
approaching your first election
• VOTING IS IMPORTANT
• But how do you decide what
candidates/political views support your
values and what you believe?
How do you find who
will support your
political views?
 THE INTERNET!
• Blogs
• Candidate websites
• Social networking sites
• Newspaper websites
• podcasts
According to the Pew Research
Institute.....

• Nearly one in five (18%) internet users posted their thoughts, comments or
questions about the campaign on an online forum such as a blog or social
networking site.

• Fully 45% of internet users went online to watch a video related to the
campaign.

• One in three internet users forwarded political content to others. Indeed, the
sharing of political content increased notably over the course of the 2008
election cycle. Young voters continued to engage heavily in the political
debate on social networking sites. Fully 83% of those age 18-24 have a social
networking profile, and two-thirds of young profile owners took part in some
form of political activity on these sites in 2008.
 -Newspapers
-Debates
-Opinion pieces
-Advertisements
 Now...
• The internet is key!
• Fundraising power
• Able to reach more of the masses
• Able to reach a younger audience
 But be careful!!
• Some sites may try to trick you...
• Blogs pass opinions off as information
that is factual
• Videos that are on sites like Youtube.com
are edited to make election candidates
appear more positive or negative
depending on
 ....also be careful
• BIASES!
• Some say the media in general has a
liberal bias
• John Stewart and Stephen Colbert
• The New York Times
 Activity!
• Break into groups of 5 (each group will have a
laptop)

• You will be assigned a political party (democrat or

republican)

• On piece of paper, each individual should write

down what they think about the party they have
been assigned.

• Find three internet sources that support the party

(give good information/are factual)

• Find three internet sources that discredit the party

(blogs, news articles)
 Activity
• What sites where easier to find? The
positive or negative?
• Does the negative information seem factual?
• Does any of the information you found
(positive or negative) change your mind
about the party you researched?
But biases work for all
parties!
• Republican blogs
• Viral Obama terrorist email
• Shirley Sherrod incident
• http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/0
7/23/fox-news-shirley-sherrod_n_6575
12.html
 Pundits
• Democrat and Republican
• Stewart/Colbert
http://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=H5pK7sK0i4A&feature=related
• O’Reily/Limbaugh
 Activity!
• Editing
• While most editing is now most pertinent
with videos, try this exercise.
• Write a story with a positive message
of about 30-50 words
• Switch with partner slash out all
adjectives (describing words) and
replace them with negative words
 Activity!
• See how the media can trick you? Be
careful what you read and always consider
the source
• Hint: A blogger who is Pro-Obama will
not have the nicest things to say about
Michelle Bachman
 Being politically active
used to be dangerous...
• Before: students would rally, go to jail, get
tear gassed, and get into fights in the name
of politics...
Now you can be an activist from the
comfort of your couch!
• Create your own blog
• post thoughts on Twitter/Facebook
• Terrorize other blogs
• Donate
• Find out how to volunteer for your
preferred politcal party
 Before...
• If you missed an important debate, you
could read about it the next day in the news.
Hopefully it would be the truth, and not
someone’s journalistic interpretation of
what was said.
 Now...
• Debates are posted everywhere. People can
go on sites like Youtube to find unedited
debates and speeches from politicians
• This helps impact political messages
 However....
• People will also post the not-so-smart
things politicians say..
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=8EvNJWM_NDg
The internet gives you a
voice

• People post their support on Facebook,

Twitter, and other blogs and microblogs
• You don’t have to say who you voted for
either...but it may help your candidate
 Not Red or Blue
• Green Party
• Tea Party
• Independent
• Lots that most people don’t know about
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_pol
itical_parties_in_the_United_States
 Class Poll
• If/when you vote will you tout an “I voted”
sticker on your wall?
• If/when you vote will you say who you
voted for?
• During election time will you endorse your
preferred candidate through social media?
 So to sum it up...
• You can learn a lot of really great things on
the internet
• Use the internet as a way to be informed
about the government and help to form your
views...
 but....

• BE CAREFUL!
• Some politics are want to get you over to
their side, be it right or left. So view
everything you see with a critical eye!