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Politics and YouTube: How Online Media is

Politics
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Online Media is Making Political Waves WEB

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Ingrid Nilsen interviews President Barack Obama. Credit: WhiteHouse.gov

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From interviews with the president to involvement in political

debates, YouTube and YouTube stars have become increasingly
more involved in the political landscape, bringing a younger

Emertain

generation with them.

689 likes

Propaganda is a source of heavily inuence in every election, and

the 2016 presidential election is no exception. But as technology
progresses, propaganda is forced to evolve with it. Television

Like Page

commercials, digital signs and banners, computerized graphics and

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social media campaigns have become increasingly prevalent across

the political landscape in the United States, their presence
dominating every form of media as the election looms closer. This

Tweets by @EmertainmentMon

phenomenon places much responsibility on one of the most

Emertainment Monthly
Retweeted

In an era formed by the digital revolution, which has transformed

prominent platforms for such media: YouTube.

information into an easily accessible commodity by way of

erin jean
@erinjhussey

handheld devices and the use of the internet, gathering political

catch my review of @wavves

@bestcoast @cherryglazerr over at
emertainmentmonthly.com/2016/03/
05/liv @emertainmentmon !
05 Mar

information has become virtually eortless. Largely due to the

popularity of social media, propaganda has been modernized and
adapted to suit broad demographics and to reach every corner of
the world. YouTube, the most-used video sharing website in the
world, hosts thousands of scarcely censored and politically charged

Emertainment Monthly
Retweeted
Jacqueline Gualtieri

video clips which are then shared on other social media platforms,
spreading their message at a rapid pace.

The

@JackieGualtieri

Check out my interview with Kim

Barker, the woman behind
"Whiskey Tango Foxtrot."
@EmertainmentMon
emertainmentmonthly.com/2016/03/
04/int
04 Mar
Emertainment Monthly
Retweeted
Jacqueline Gualtieri
@JackieGualtieri

And while you're at it, check out my

review of "Whiskey Tango Foxtrot"
@EmertainmentMon
emertainmentmonthly.com/2016/03/
04/rev
04 Mar

Clip from Last Week Tonight with John Oliver discussing

presidential candidate Donald Trump received over 2.9 million
views on YouTube. Credit: HBO

YouTube Eect is a term dened by foreignpolicy.com as the

phenomenon whereby video clips, often produced by individuals
acting on their own, are rapidly disseminated throughout the world
thanks to video-sharing websites such as YouTube. This highly

Emertainment Monthly
Retweeted

feasible and relevant concept illustrates how political propaganda

Nora Dominick

has been revolutionized and tailored to consumers in the media

@noradominick

.@KarlaSouza7's INCREDIBLE
acting takes center stage in the
latest episode of #HTGAWM!
#TGIT
emertainmentmonthly.com/2016/03/
01/how

age, ensuring that it spreads as vastly as social media use does.

Luckily, YouTube has taken action in favor of ensuring that the most
widespread videos resulting from this eect are also amongst the
most well-informed clips going viral.
As a result of the ease of sharing videos on YouTube, which then
spread to other social media platforms such as Facebook and
Twitter, viewers begin to form opinions about presidential
candidates based solely on the material provided by such videos. A
montage of every progressive statement that Bernie Sanders has
made within the last year may persuade viewers to Feel the Bern
in the same way that a montage of every extremist statement that

01 Mar
Emertainment Monthly
Retweeted
Myles McNutt
@Memles

With six Oscars,

#MadMaxFuryRoad ties for the
most wins by a film that won neither
Director nor Picture.

Donald Trump has made may inspire vehement anti-Trump

sentiments.
Because these videos are capable of single-handedly inspiring
opinions and generating points of view, YouTube has begun to
combat misleading or out-of-context video clips which are usually
uploaded independently to promote biased ideas. At the beginning
of this year, YouTube orchestrated its second presidential interview
hosted by three popular YouTube stars who collectively boast more

than 12.1 million subscribers. Posted on Jan. 15, 2016, The

The other? #StarWars.

YouTube Interview with President Obama has been viewed

29 Feb

nearly 1.7 million times; meanwhile, last years video has over three
million views.

Emertainment Monthly
@EmertainmentMon

These videos were

& Best Picture Goes To

SPOTLIGHT! The Voice of God has
declared it! #Oscars #OscarsEM

created to target the

younger, more digitally
inclined viewers who

29 Feb

comprise much of the

stars follower base.

Emertainment Monthly

Similar to these

@EmertainmentMon

Well there goes all the Leo No

Oscar memes. DiCaprio finally
wins for The Revenant #Oscars
#OscarsEM
29 Feb
Emertainment Monthly
@EmertainmentMon

Brie Larson picks up this years

Best Actress for Room #Oscars
#OscarsEM

First YouTube sponsored interview with the

president. Credit: YouTube

interviews with
President Obama, other
strides are being made

by YouTube to keep this young viewership knowledgeable about

current events and politics. In January, both Democratic and
Republican presidential candidates elded questions from
YouTubers during their nal pre-primary debates. The inuence of
these well-known YouTube stars participation in intellectual
political dialogue is incredibly important when considering the
signicance of YouTube videos as predominant propaganda forms.

29 Feb

The far-reaching nature of YouTube videos has overtaken that of

Emertainment Monthly
Retweeted
kesha
@KeshaRose

thank u @ladygaga and VP

@JoeBiden for bringing attention to
sexual assault at the oscars. it hit
very close to my heart for obvious

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mainstream media in the digital age. As social media emerges as

the primary source of news and current events information for
many young people, televised news programs and newspapers are
becoming obsolete. In 2012, millennials made up one-fth of the
electorate, and theyre projected to make up one-third of the
electorate by 2020. Given that millennials also constitute a large
proportion of viral video views and shares, this illustrates
an undeniable inuence of YouTube videos on the reception of
current events and politics among a younger demographic.

Email Address
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Candidates in the 2008 presidential election answer citizen submitted

video questions in cosponsored YouTube/CNN debate. Credit: AP Photo

In addition to the sheer availability of YouTube videos on nearly

every prominent social media platform, its important to consider
the sources of such inuential video clips. Trackerspeople who
follow around the opposing partys candidates with a camera in
hopes of lming them saying or doing something detrimentalare
able to freely and independently upload footage to YouTube. This
provides an opportunity for those lming to selectively share video
clips meant to sway viewer opinions and promote their points of
view.
Because of the virtual omnipresence of cameras in many forms,
from smartphone cameras to professional camcorders and
everything in between, lming a politicians inappropriate
statement or behavior out of context is startlingly simple. As a
result, viewing such a statement or behavior without additional
information is also simpleand highly likely. Thus, viewers ability
to organically form opinions surrounding politics and especially
with regard to presidential candidates, is inhibited by The YouTube
Eect.
YouTube as a
company,
however, is
striving to
ensure that

Video of Ted Cruzs young daughter rejecting a

goodbye kiss spreads rapidly online.
Credit: BBC Newsnight

high-quality, well-informed videos are taking precedent over other

potentially misinformed or exaggerated videos. By enlisting popular
YouTube stars to conduct political interviews and interact with the
political landscape, the company increases the likelihood that these
high-quality videos will be shared more frequently than misleading
clips posted by lesser-known YouTubers. Additionally, YouTubesponsored political debates are hosted as a way for the video
sharing site to take advantage of its reach in a positive way.
Owed to the widespread quality of YouTube videos and their
popularity with millennials, political engagement on YouTube is
capable of heavily manipulating the opinions and decisions of
young voters. Given that increasingly more young people are
registering to vote each year, wanting their voices to be heard and
to have a say in political elections, the impact of YouTube on US
politics is undeniably inuential.
A more politically involved youth is a prospect worth getting excited
over and its becoming a reality with each new election. Social
media is a means of gaining political insight with unprecedented
ease, and for this reason YouTubes eorts to provide well-made,
informative and largely impartial videos amongst a sea of
independently uploaded clipswhich are often biased or
misleadingare admirable and essential in progressing towards a
diverse and informed electorate.

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