The Paper of Conventional Wisdom Tackles YouTube

WaPo's Howard Kurtz discovers that YouTube allows amatuers to post videos remixing campaign ads. Brilliant. Can I get his salary?

In YouTube Clips, A Political Edge:

But the YouTube revolution -- which includes dozens of sites such as Google Video, Revver.com and Metacafe.com -- could turn that on its head.

If any teenager can put up a video for or against a candidate, and persuade other people to watch that video, the center of gravity could shift to masses of people with camcorders and passable computer skills. And if people increasingly distrust the mainstream media, they might be more receptive to messages created by ordinary folks.

"YouTube is a campaign game-changer, shifting the dynamics of how to reach voters and build intimate relationships," says Julie Supan, senior marketing director for the small, California-based firm, which by one measure now runs the 39th most popular Web site. "YouTube levels the playing field, allowing well-backed and less-known candidates to reach the same audience and share the same stage."

To his credit, Kurtz gets it - mostly. For some reason, he seems to think that 5,000 or so viewers demonstrates the power of YouTube to shift the dynamics of campaign media. Doesn't realize that the numbers he's throwing out merely pertain to people who have signed into groups? And that potentially tens of thousands might actually be viewing some of these ads?

I guess Howard Kurtz is the only person in the political world who hasn't heard of JibJab.

While we're on this topic, I'll point you to a post Josh made about this development on his personal blog. Where is the line between a healthy media democracy and "flickring idiocy?" Something to chew on.

On a nostalgic note - oh how I wish YouTube had been around when Jason Woliner was making his Partisan Jab videos for MFA.

"At the time of this recording Dick Cheney's Alive" -- Jason Woliner