EVENT ALERT!! Thursday December 6– The Unpress: New Gatekeepers of the NH Primary?

"We’re inviting New Hampshire’s bloggers, reporters, citizens and campaign officials — anyone who is covering and shaping the primary in ways which weren’t possible a decade ago — to join the forum," says Bill Densmore, director of the New England News Forum. "This is a town meeting about new forms of civic engagement."

The Internet is an emerging mass medium — a press without a press. How are candidate websites, blogs, mashups, meetups, social networks, citizen reporters and online fundraising affecting political dialog in the New Hampshire primary?

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To find out, the New England News Forum, Southern New Hampshire University, the Marlin Fitzwater Center at Franklin Pierce University and other sponsors are convening a public inquiry entitled: "The Unpress: New Gatekeepers of the New Hampshire Primary?" — Thurs., Dec. 6, 2008, from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. at SNHU in Manchester, N.H.

Participants will consider informally three propositions:

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• As the gatekeeper role of the traditional press falls away, our democracy is more hopeful, more transparent and more accountable. Yes, or no?
• Candidates now spend more time working the grassroots, because they need to influence the web conversation as well as the main-stream media. The result: Clearer issues, more discussion, more diversity. Yes, or no?
• The Internet cannot alone close the loop on political engagement because it lacks the capacity to project a handshake, it does not replace face-to-face campaigning, and raises difficult questions about trust and conflict-of-interest. Yes, or no?