Media’s Fascination With John Culberson’s Use Of Technology Is Unwarranted

“Pioneering,” and “vanguards of the future,” are words the mainstream media has used to describe Texas Congressman John Culberson’s use of Twitter and other social media technologies to cover the Republican’s “drill here, drill now” shenanigans since the U.S. Congess went into recess a couple of weeks ago.

Once again, the mainstream media has managed to turn a simple action by a Republican lawmaker into a groundbreaking, watershed moment in history when that simply is not the case.

That a member of the United States Congress is using Twitter (or any other social networking tool, for that matter) is simply no longer news. Yet, the mainstream media makes it news.

Members of Congress–and, indeed the Texas Legislature, are no strangers to social networking tools, Twitter included. Lloyd Doggett (D-Austin) has used YouTube to communicate with constituents for two years. State Rep. Aaron Pena has maintained a blog for years–and is generally recognized as the first state legislator in America to blog. Congressman Silvestre Reyes (D-Edinburg) has maintained a blog for two years.

Outside of Texas, members of Congress have used Twitter long before Culberson adopted it as the handiest way to grab media attention for his party’s flawed protest in the House Chamber. Senator Chris Dodd used it in his presidential campaign. So were Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama.  House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is on Facebook. Congressman Tom Udall was using Twitter before Culberson, in fact. In all, more than 30 members of Congress use Twitter, making Culberson no real star in social networking circles.

In the home area of the Houston Chronicle, the vey media outlet that spewed forth superfulous adjectives about Culberson’s alleged groundbreaking use of Twitter, State Rep. Garnet Coleman (D-Houston) has used podcasts, vlogs, and a very interactive website to connect with his constituents. Even the moribund Texas House Republican Caucus used blogging to connect with constituents during the 80th Texas Legislature.

Almost none of these instances gained any serious media attention. Yet one Republican Congressman uses Twitter, shoots a few videos from his Blackberry, and the media declaes that Republicans are suddenly on the verge of revolutionizing the way that politicians communicate with their constituents.

Hogwash. The mainstream media, for whatever reason, has decided–evidently forgetting that they just finished covering Netroots Nation–that Republicans are on top of the social netwoking and new media mountaintop.

How quickly the media forgets reality when it makes a good story.

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