Following our successful panel at the Republican National Convention in Tampa, the USC Center on Communication Leadership and Policy (CCLP) continued their convention programming this week at the Democratic National Convention. The event was held at the Bloomberg link in Charlotte, NC in partnership with Harvard IOP and Bloomberg LP.

With well over three hundred guests in attendance, panelists led a discussion regarding the role of social media and traditional media sources forming public opinions during an election year. Topics presented during the panel included: social media management, digital campaign strategies, Clint Eastwood trending, and the role of media and public discourse during the campaign trail.

For the unedited transcript, click here: politics and media panel transcript 9.3.12-1.pdf

Sept. 4, Charlotte, NC (Panelists from left to right) — Marcus Brauchli, executive editor of the Washington Post, Olivia Ma, news and politics manager at YouTube, Al Hunt, executive editor of Bloomberg News, Ben LaBolt, a campaign spokesman for President Barack Obama, and Matt Bai, chief political correspondent for the New York Times Magazine.

Panelists highlighted the use of new media platforms by both parties as key advantage points to this election season. Political parties have delved into digital strategies with a fervor never seen before.

YouTube political correspondent, Olivia Ma:

‘Well, we’ve seen huge demand for political content on YouTube since the
primary season began in 2011. Just has Ben was saying, I mean the campaigns have
adopted YouTube as a core part of their communication strategy.”

Al Hunt, executive editor of Bloomberg News, noted the dead heat accuracy of Twitter’s Political Index as compared to the more traditional Gallop poll. “But I went over there and they have Twitter political index and what they do, they track it to the Gallop daily tracking poll. And it is absolutely remarkable how close they are with Twitter almost always being about a day ahead.”

It’s clear the digital tools available to the candidates are making an impact on how campaign strategies are utilizing new media outlets. The challenge for each campaign remains in the decision of where their time and advertising dollars are best vested.

Traditional media outlets dictate a strong hold on executing original copy, while new media digital outlets disseminate that content at a rate never reached through a traditional media subscription model.

It’s clear candidates are adopting new media platforms at a rate which traditional media outlets are being outpaced. To read further insights from the panelists, read the full transcript here: politics and media panel transcript 9.3.12-1.pdf