In the midst of a political frenzy surrounding the 2008 presidential campaign, UF's Bob Graham Center for Public Service turned the focus from the candidates to the media.
New York Times Magazine political journalist Matt Bai and Democratic campaign worker Joe Trippi, author of "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised: Democracy, the Internet and the Overthrow of Everything," took center stage Thursday night at Pugh Hall to discuss the role of the media on the 2008 campaign trail.
Former U.S. Sen. Bob Graham was the host, while Tom Fiedler, former executive editor of the Miami Herald, moderated.
"We wanted to have a discussion of the old and the new media," Graham said. "We wanted to have not a partisan difference, but a difference in perspective."
Much of the focus of the conversation was directed toward the Internet's effect on modern political campaigning.
"The campaign has the ability to directly create its own network of supporters, who can then keep that message going and connect in a way that raises money," Trippi said.
He critiqued Hillary Clinton's campaign for its lack of innovation in recruiting support.
Bai discussed his concerns about the future of journalism in general and how the Internet has somewhat fueled the public's mistrust of media.
"The Internet hasn't changed poliltics; the Internet has changed everything," Bai said. "Politics, as usual, is one of the last institutions to catch up."
The event concluded with an audience question-and-answer session, as many of the attendees inquired about the future of politics and technology, especially concerning social networking Web sites.
Trippi said a friend on the Howard Dean campaign enlightened him on the nature of the Internet political phenomenon.
"He said, 'This is about Americans having faith in strangers again,'" Trippi said.
