On Wednesday night, student journalists packed Usdan 108 to hear ABC News Senior Vice President Paul Mason ’77 discuss press coverage of the 2008 election in his speech “The 2008 Political Campaign: News Coverage in the Digital Age—Blogs, debates, and why your vote might not count.” Mason talked about the shift in the conveyance of information, contrasting this campaign season to the 1994 general election in South Africa at the end of Apartheid. At that time voters turned out in droves although they didn’t have access to the Internet and used their car batteries as a means to power their television sets.
Mason shared statistics on how current voters receive news about the campaigns, arguing that Internet page views have skyrocketed since January. He also touched on the media’s use of social networking sites and hand in creating debates that have to keep up with daily news stories.
Ultimately, despite this influx of information technology, Mason noted that voter turnout in the 18-to-24-year-old demographic is much lower than the turnout of senior citizens. He expressed that he is eager to see if and how this will change in November.
Mason’s speech was part of the first-ever Argus Speaker Series, which aims to bring alumni in journalism back to the University to talk about reporting. The next event will be Wednesday, April 16 at 7:30 p.m. in PAC 001. Freelance journalist Avi Salzman ’00 will look at the changing face of journalism in “Fire the Paperboy: Is there any way to save the newspaper industry?” All are encouraged to attend.
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