Translation: the AP reports that Current TV is going to broadcast tweets on-screen during the next presidential debates. This could be very good or very bad.
On the good side, perhaps it will connect viewers who sit in partitioned corners of the country -- the Bay Area, Lincoln NE, NYC, the Florida Panhandle -- who have been watching political coverage this year and wondering, "What in the world is the rest of the country thinking?" Which I think we all pretty much do in our own ways.
On the bad side -- the very, very bad side -- this could turn out to be extremely polarizing. Not to mention highly gameable. Some parts of the country are much more Twitter-happy than others, I'm sure. Just because technology is pervasive doesn't mean it's equally accessible.
But I like the direction this is headed, if we take the Current PR line at face value. Punditry is maddening. I tend to think the American populace would be much better informed with more exposure to the nation's barbershop and hair salon chatter than with the average punditry.
It's an all the more interesting new kind of interactivity in political discourse given that Current was co-founded by former Vice President Al Gore. Joel Hyatt, CEO of Current, said the technique — dubbed "Hack the Debate" — was not Gore's idea, but he and Gore both share a dim view of post-debate punditry."He certainly shares the belief that the punditry aspect of the process has not been enriching to American democracy," said Hyatt.
I'm also tickled by the fact that this sort of cross-media integration is working in a counterintuitive direction. Recent innovation has attempted to put images and video on text-traditional devices. But putting tweets on a TV broadcast involves putting text on top of video.
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