CNN Will Offer Presidential Debate Video Online
May 7th, 2007 | Published in Culture, Technology
There has been a lot of heated debate in the political corners of the Web related to the fact MSNBC would not release their video of the presidential debates under a Creative Commons license so it can used anyway people want. From uploading it to YouTube to remixing it, you name it.
Of course MSNBC would let people use segments of their video, but only if you followed all their rules and regulations (they are listed here). This wrong for a number of different reasons. Many US citizens (like people in the 18-24 demo) now get their news and information online and are used to watching video on their computers, not their TVs at a time of their choosing.
But most importantly we the citizens own the air waves. Radio and TV stations (and yes I know MSNBC is a cable station) get access to the air waves we own where they broadcast their shows for free and make billions. When the FCC allocated the spectrum to these companies they were told that in return they had to do X number of hours a week of programming that would benefit the public. That is why there are educational programs on at like 4:00 AM.
And there may be nothing more important in serving the public interest then giving citizens open and free access to the footage of our presidential debates to do as we wish with it. So it is very good news that CNN is a smarter company then MSNBC.
We believe this is good for the country and good for the electoral process. This decision will apply to all of CNN’s presidential debates, beginning with the upcoming New Hampshire debates in June.
From a programming point-of-view I’ve felt CNN has gone downhill over the years and I prefer MSNBC, but this decision alone will get them another chance.
Update: I often get into debates with people that are curious that I spend time on some political blogs. They tend to think that somebody with a graduate degree, 37, and the VP of Marketing isn’t the type of person that goes to political blogs. They seem to think it is people living in their parents basement that can’t keep a job. Well, according to a 2006 survey of 50,000 blog readers that isn’t correct true. “The median political blog reader is a 43 year old man with an annual
family income of $80,000. He reads 6 blogs a day for 10 hours a week.
39% have post-graduate degrees. 70% have contributed to a campaign.
