On the political side, the left-wing netroot blogs have been compared to the right's use of and dominance in talk radio, but lately I'm starting to think the increasing use of internet videos by these blogs is making that comparison ever more apt.
Case in point is the ubiquitously linked Crooks and Liars weblog, which features a heavy rotation of web video. The video is usually drawn from broadcast television, and shows how effectively a complex political narrative can be constructed out of a daily selection of clips.
The site has, by excerpting segments of MSNBC's Countdown, burnished Keith Olbermann's reputation as a 2006 Edward R. Murrow. It makes available television interviews their readers might want to see but don't have the time to see themselves any more conveniently, often for watchdog purposes. It brings back golden oldies when it feels its readership needs a reminder.
By letting the videos clips run unaltered, whether White House Press Secretary Tony Snow at a daily briefing or the President himself on, say, Katrina, the site is assuming that their targets will essentially indict themselves, their own words in the website's contextual frame. How effective it is may depend on your political orientation, but by making the selection of clip length the only editorial decision (no leading or opinionated voiceovers or text overlaid in post), the site lays a claim to straightforwardness.
In case you still need convincing that web video = the new a.m. radio, Crooks and Liars rewards it's daily visitors with "C&L's Late Night Music Club," a day-closing post of some incredible music clip. Taste tends towards the pre-MTV library favorites, from The Beatles to Johnny Guitar Watson to Miles Davis.
How else are you ever going to play across party lines?
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