If there's one thing apparent on how this year's presidential election is being covered, it's that traditional journalists aren't the only ones with a say anymore.
Bruce DuMont -- political talk radio host of "Beyond the Beltway" and founder of the Museum of Broadcast Communications in Chicago -- is one pundit who says the availabilty of news via the Internet has democratized the way these conventions and elections are covered.
"There's no such thing as being off the record or out of public eye (anymore)," he says. "The collective power of bloggers is a force to be reckon with."
While bloggers -- both mainstream and independent of media outlets -- plan to blanket both political conventions, Google, YouTube and Digg sponsored a Big Tent at the DNC that served as blogger central -- a large tent that once inside resembled that of an oversized coffee house but served as a community for hundreds of bloggers.
What's on tap for the future? DuMont believes traditional news outlets will start to incorporate blogs, Twitter and video from bloggers and citizen journalists to compliment their coverage of events.
Last night, CNN's Rick Sanchez used Twitter, MySpace and Facebook throughout his broadcast of CNN'S Hurricane Gustav coverage to answer questions and garner viewer interaction. And it worked.
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