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May 19, 2008
The Media of Choice In Appalachia
There has been a lot of speculation about why Barack Obama lost by such a wide margin to Hillary Clinton in West Virginia and probably as big in Kentucky. TalkPointsMemo.com posted a piece by Jonathan Tilove of the Newhouse News Service who suggests it’s a Scots-Irish problem of “fighting” people who “migrated directly to the wilderness of the Appalachian mountains” and that these people are today in “…the lower rungs socially and economically.”
In a New York Times Op-Ed Column, Charles Blow suggests that Obama has an Appalachia problem that includes counties from New York State down to Tennessee – a region that is “whiter, poorer, older, more rural and less educated than the rest of the country, and seems to be voting like a bloc.”
The reasons Appalachia does not vote for Obama very well may include the people’s fighting Scots-Irish heritage or the fact that they are poorer, older, more rural, and less educated. But I believe that another reason for their voting behavior is that they live in the “wilderness of the Appalachian mountains” where broadband Internet access is very low.
I searched via Google for cable television (the main provider of broadband Internet access) penetration in West Virginia and other Appalachian states, but was unable to find any recent statistics. Therefore, I’m going on a hunch and on my assumption that cable and broadband Internet penetration tends to be lowest among “poorer, older, more rural, and less educated people.” If my hunch is correct, then the success of Obama’s campaign and fund raising efforts is as much related to media access and usage as it is to race, age, income, or education.
People who get their news from and are heavy users of the Internet are probably more likely to support Obama than those who get their news from the dinosaur media – radio, newspapers, and broadcast television. These people probably tend to be older and mired in pre-1960 media habits.
As Joshua Green points out in his excellent article in the June Atlantic titled “The Amazing Money Machine,” the “…story of Obama’s success is very much a story about money,” which was made possible by his brilliant use of the Internet. If Obama is elected in November, he will be the country’s first Internet president, and he will owe his victory to a generation (mostly younger) of Internet-savvy voters and donors.
Not only was Obama able to outspend Hillary on television advertising (“six-to-one” as Hillary whined), but probably the video with the most impact was iWilli’s “Yes We Can” which has had over 7.5 million views on YouTube.com alone, which doesn’t include the millions of views from its viral distribution, views on Obama’s and other’s Web sites, and coverage on television.
Another reason for the voting behavior of people in Appalachia, I believe, is anxiety – something close to the “bitterness” that Obama mentioned in an interview, referring to blue-collar workers in small towns in Pennsylvania. In an interview on the Harvard Business Review “IdeaCast” podcast (available on iTunes, in “Podcasts” and in “Business”), Robert Rosen, author of Just Enough Anxiety, said that modern Americans tend to be “…shackled by an outdated mind. Change and uncertainty is dangerous, it makes us anxious. We see anxiety as bad, as a sign of weakness.” He also went on to say, “We do one of two things. We deny or resist the anxiety, which gets in the way of us changing and moving forward, or we try to attack and control anxiety – we get hijacked by it…”
I think the “whiter, poorer, older, more rural and less educated” people of Appalachia are anxious because they are anxious about the future and about change, and, thus, stick with old ideas and old media. They not only more than likely do not have broadband Internet access, but are also more than likely anxious about using it if they did.
I can’t imagine the folks in Appalachia grooving to iWilli’s “Yes We Can” video. They are probably watching re-runs of “I Love Lucy” on TV sets with rabbit-ear antennae and listening to “The Grand Ole Opry” on Saturday nights on WSM-AM radio – the king of Appalachia media. And they more than likely won’t watch Obama’s inauguration speech, which is sure to be a humdinger. But I can imagine that the majority of Obama’s ardent young, post-racial, post-Appalachia supporters watching their president’s inauguration address on their computers – the media of choice of a new, young, educated generation -- not the media of choice in Appalachia.
Posted by Charles Warner at May 19, 2008 06:56 PM
Comments
Roger ![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.mediacurmudgeon.com/nav-commenters.gif)
at May 21, 2008 12:50 PM writes:
It is time we realize that Internet access has the potential to include all Americans in the political process. We need to ensure that all have affordable access and the ability to participate. This is only one goal of the Communications Workers Of America’s project Speed Matters. Check out our website at www.speedmatters.org for more information on how we can make this goal a reality.
Media Curmudgeon at May 20, 2008 12:26 PM writes:
Marilyn Keenan writes:
"Don't know if you're right about Appalachian media or not; sounds logical, I guess. Just want to say that I am so ready for the next generation to take over from ours. For the West Virginias and all of us.
We have been the "want, want, want" generation for so long. And the next generations now fear that they will not have all the largess and success that we have had. Our generation has created the instant gratification rule. And the next generation is the one that worries whether that will last. So it's time for those who want to plan farther ahead than this political cycle, this year's stock index, this year's budget deficit, this year's fears.
Time for someone like Obama. And McCain is a generation ahead of me. So I'm not comfortable with his vision. It's time for a new vision. I hope that even the West Virginians can see that we have to plan farther out and prepare for the future better than we have for such a long time. If only the media could give us a broader vision and stop picking at the hiccups. It
would be best for all of us in every corner of America."
Media Curmudgeon at May 20, 2008 12:24 PM writes:
Chris Warner writes:
"My wife comes from Appalachia, and we visit family there every year. Though it is less than an 8 hour drive [from Cape Cod], stark contrasts exist between here and there.
Is Obama concerned about winning this voting block that watches NASCAR and "Rozanne" reruns? How much do they contribute to political campaign coffers, and what percentage of that populace actually votes or thinks their vote matters? If Dale Earnhart ran for president posthumously, he would win in a coal-shale landslide."
Media Curmudgeon at May 20, 2008 12:21 PM writes:
Darryl Smith writes:
"I came across this link after I read your post below. It made me think a lot about both.
YouTube - Tim Wise: On White Privilege (uploaded by challengingmedia)
When it comes down to it, there is one color that truly matters in this country and that color is green. Those that have it want to keep it and don't want those that don't to have access. We need to get beyond race and see that the real battle is economic. The people of Appalachia have more in common with those in urban ghettoes than they do with anybody living in Westchester County.
As always, the power structure maintains a policy of divide and conquer/control. The best way is to do it is to play to the fears of race. "It's the white man's fault that... (fill in the blank). It's the minority's or affirmative action's fault that..."
If the existing political structure can keep people that have a common economic interest separated and feuding among each other, then the first rule of power is maintained. As you mentioned while I was in grad school, the first rule of power is to keep and maintain power."
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