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YouTube Unveils Channels for Presidential Candidates
A Reuters article looks at YouTube's new portal, which the U.S. presidential hopefuls will use to promote their campaigns for the '08 election. Those signing up to have their own channels include Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, John Edwards, Bill Richardson, John McCain, Mitt Romney, and Rudy Giuliani.
The article says the public will be allowed to comment on videos that candidates post on the various channels. But there's still worry, following last year's election, about the negative effects that YouTube may have.
Politicians have the final say about what appears on their channels, but they still may be unable to prevent being caught up in what became known last year as the “macaca” phenomenon.
Republican Senator George Allen of Virginia lost a closely fought election after getting some unwanted publicity when a video showed up on YouTube of him calling a rival’s staffer “macaca”— an African monkey and sometimes a racial slur. The rival’s staffer was of Indian origin. Jordan Hoffner, YouTube’s director of content partnerships, said candidates might get the most benefit from their channels by being as open as possible.
