YouTube at centre of 2008 presidential campaign

Level 2 Intermediate
1

Key words

Fill the gaps in the sentences using these key words from the text.
clip
debate

quirky
submit

free-for-all
preventative

unsettles
impact

breakthrough
coverage

1. If something ____________ you, it makes you feel nervous, confused or anxious.

2. ____________ is the amount of attention that the media gives to a particular subject.
3. ____________ medicine is treatment intended to stop an illness or a disease before it starts.
4. A ____________ is a formal discussion in which people give their opinions about a subject.
5. If something is ____________, it is slightly strange or unusual.
6. A ____________ is a discovery or achievement that comes after a lot of hard work.
7.A____________isaveryshortpartofalm,TVprogrammeornewsstory.
8. If you ____________ a question or a proposal, you formally give it to someone so that they can
make a decision about it.
9.An____________istheeffectorinuencethatsomethingorsomeonehas.
10. A ____________ is an uncontrolled situation in which people compete with each other and
where there are no rules.

Find the information

Lookinthetextandndthisinformationasquicklyaspossible.

1. How many video questions have been submitted to the debate?

2.WhendidRichardNixonandJohnKennedyrstdebateontelevision?
3. How many questions has CNN selected for the debate?
4. When is the next US presidential election?
5. How many people have watched the video about Barack Obama?

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NEWS LESSONS / YouTube at centre of 2008 presidential campaign / Intermediate

Macmillan Publishers Ltd 2007

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6.WhenwilltheRepublicandebatetakeplaceonCNN/YouTube?

YouTube at centre of 2008 presidential campaign

Level 2 Intermediate
Debate brings YouTube to centre of
2008 presidential campaign

areintimate,emotionalandpersonal.The
person asking each question is in his/her own
surroundings, and that person is bringing you
intotheirworld,theirreality.Thatmakesitavery
powerful experience.

Ewen MacAskill in Charleston

July 23, 2007
1 Old media, in the form of CNN, and new media,
intheformofthevideosharingwebsiteYouTube,
are joining together to broadcast a debate
between the Democratic candidates in the United
States 2008 presidential contest. Members of
the public have sent in video-recorded questions
for Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama and the other
candidates.
2 More than 2,300 videos recorded on
webcameras and mobile phones have been
submitted. Among them is a 30-second clip from
a cancer survivor who removes her wig and says
her chances of survival are not as good as they
would be if she had health insurance. What
would you, as president, do to make low-cost or
free preventative medicine available for everyone
in this country? she asks.
3 Theorganizerssaytheeventisabreakthrough
for the new media, similar to the impact of
television on politics when Richard Nixon
debated with John Kennedy in 1960. But some
bloggers, who see the Internet as a democratic
free-for-all, have said that they are not happy that
CNNisinvolved.Thecandidateswillmeetina
military college in Charleston, South Carolina and
watch the questions on a 7.6 metre by 5.5 metre
screen.ThefactthatCNNhasselectedthe25
30 questions has made a lot of bloggers angry.
4 Questions submitted so far cover climate change,
immigration, gay rights, welfare and foreign
policy.ThenumberofquestionsaboutIraqis
very small in comparison with the extensive daily
coverage it gets in US papers and on television.
Although CNN is checking the questions, quirky
or emotional questions that might unsettle the
candidates might still get through.

Some of the videos do not ask questions at all: in

one, a man plays guitar and sings a song about
potential vice-presidents; another includes a
talking duck; one man, making a point about the
impact of petrol on the environment, is shown
driving a 1987 Chevy convertible.

Phil Noble, founder of PoliticsOnline, told

ReutersthatYouTubesincreasingcoverageof
politicswassignicant.Inthepast,presidential
campaigns only experimented a little with
technologyandinnovationitwasasmall
detailofwhatwasgoingon.Thedifferencein
this election is that technology has become
fundamental. Each candidates campaign has
workedoutwaystouseYouTubeallthetime.

TheInternetplayedasmallbutshortlivedrole
in the 2004 presidential election, when people
donated money online to the campaign of the
Democrat Howard Dean. Online Democratic
bloggers played a bigger part in last years
Congressional elections. But the Internet is now
moving into a central position in this campaign by
spreadingideas,raisingmoneyandmobilizing
support, particularly among the young.

YouTube,whichdidnotexistduringthelast
presidential campaign, has already had an
impact on this campaign. More than 2.5 million
people have watched the video Ive Got A Crush
... On Obama since it was posted last month.
Afollowupvideoshowingwomenghtingover
Mr Obama and Rudy Giuliani, the Republican
frontrunner, has been watched more than
500,000 times since it appeared last week. CNN
andYouTubewilljoinforcesagainonSeptember
17 for a Republican debate.
Guardian News & Media 2007

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NEWS LESSONS / YouTube at centre of 2008 presidential campaign / Intermediate

Macmillan Publishers Ltd 2007

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First published in The Guardian, 23/7/07

5 SteveGrove,headofYouTubesnewsand
politicssection,toldtheWashingtonPost:These
YouTubequestionsalotofthem,anyway

YouTube at centre of 2008 presidential campaign

Level 2 Intermediate
3 Comprehension check
Are these sentences True (T) or False (F) according to the text?
1.ThisisthersttimethattelevisionandtheInternethavejoinedforcestobroadcastapresidentialcampaign
debate of this kind.
2. All of the videos submitted to the debate ask questions.
3.TheInternetistakingacentralpositioninthispresidentialcampaign.
4. Some bloggers are unhappy that CNN is involved.
5.TheInternetwasnotusedatallduringthelastpresidentialcampaignin2004.
6.YouTubewasfoundedin2003.

4 Vocabulary 1: Find the word

Lookinthetextandndthesewordsandexpressions.
1. A noun meaning the process in which people enter a country to live there. (para 4)
2. A noun meaning (in American English) money given to unemployed people and other people in need. (para 4)
3. An adjective meaning very large in amount or degree. (para 4)
4. An adjective meaning relating to very personal and private things. (para 5)
5. An adjective meaning possible or likely in the future. (para 6)
6. An adjective meaning absolutely essential. (para 7)
7. A two-word adjective meaning lasting for a short period of time. (para 8)

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NEWS LESSONS / YouTube at centre of 2008 presidential campaign / Intermediate

Macmillan Publishers Ltd 2007

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8. A noun meaning a feeling of love and admiration for someone. (para 9)

YouTube at centre of 2008 presidential campaign

Level 2 Intermediate
5 Vocabulary 2: Verb + noun collocations
Match the verbs in the left-hand column with the nouns in the right-hand column to form collocations.

1. issue

a. a message

2. reduce

b. a statement

3. pass on

c. restrictions

4. make

d. a crisis

5. place

e. a visa

6. overcome

f. tension

6 Vocabulary 3: Word building

Complete the table.

noun
1.

person

2.

power

3.

emotion

4.

democrat

5.

environment

6.

president

7.

centre

8.

republic

adjective

7 Discussion

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NEWS LESSONS / YouTube at centre of 2008 presidential campaign / Intermediate

Macmillan Publishers Ltd 2007

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What would you like your politicians to change in your country? If you could send in questions to a
political debate, what questions would you submit and why?