Tech changes way the public views politics

By Amanda Phipps
phippsa@mytjnow.com

Photo By Claire VanOstenbridge - vanostenbridgec@mytjnow.comClick to watch our video interview with Winthrop professor Padmini Patwardhan.

Technology is introducing new ways for journalists to cover campaigns and other news stories in fast, more personal ways, panelist Steve Brusk said during the West Forum event Thursday.

Brusk is CNN’s political coverage manager and spoke about the impact changing technology has on media coverage of politics and other areas.

“(New) technology and strategies of campaigns has completely changed the playing field in this campaign,” he said.

The ability to capture small moments and show them to people in real time has had a huge impact on campaign coverage, Brusk said.

“(Technology) makes for better TV, but more importantly, it makes for better

journalism,” he said. “(It allows us to) see magic moments that are fun and, as we saw in Iowa, really do make a difference.”

Brusk compared Twitter to a police-scanner for news.

“There are thousands of different ways every moment to get exposed to campaigns,” he said. “(People can) see things that may not otherwise have been on (their) radar.”

While technology exists that helps journalists cover campaigns, media coverage does not control what people will think about candidates or who they will show up to hear, Brusk said.

“Polling/news coverage does not shape the race the way people see it,” he said.

Brusk said that no matter how people receive the information, their job is to provide people with content. 

In a few years, people will see more coverage tailored to give people unique and better ways to get information, Brusk said. He said cameras will be smaller, allowing journalists to more easily provide coverage.

“(Technology) allows us to observe a process without being as intrusive,” he said. “It improves the way we can get things to (people).”

Technology was included in every aspect of the West Forum, from media personnel to audience members.

“I think the most interesting point they made was about how technology has revolutionized how journalism is presented and how that has changed,” senior digital information design major Michelle Rojas said. “Our generation is so used to the immediacy of information. It’s going to be interesting to see how that continues to change over time.”

For some, like MCOM professor Padmini Patwardhan, connectivity issues got in the way of using technology

“I was trying to tweet, but I had connection failure,” she said.

Patwardhan did agree with the panelists that technology will change in the future, as seen at the event.

“This event will get much wider coverage because of technology,” she said.