Controlled and Created Media and Elections

There was an interesting lecture on fora.tv regarding the most recent election and the power struggle between the media and the campaigns. The issue seemed centered around participatory media and controlled media, and which is more important to a campaign. To give an example, when talking about participatory media they are discussing the role of blogs and internet driven sites that are created by people, specifically the youth. They mentioned that by June of this year there were 40 million hits on youtube for Obama, while Clinton received 8 million and McCain 1 million. Once the election came closer to the end, both campaigns appeared to be concerned with turning to controlled media ads that could keep the campaign on point. It is interesting to think about how campaigning has adapted to modern technology, and how much power people have to circulate information in campaigns today.
http://fora.tv/2008/09/04/How_Does_News_Media_Impact_Elections