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October 11, 2000
Thousands of Questions Posed by Voters in First Days of Web
White & Blue 2000's Rolling Cyber Debate
Citizens Actively Using Online Debate Format to
Pose Questions to Presidential Campaigns
Washington, DC -- Since the first ever online presidential debate launched on
Sunday, October 1st, netizens are eagerly taking advantage of the historic opportunity
to pose their own questions to the candidates participating in Web White &
Blue 2000's Rolling Cyber Debate. The online format of the Rolling Cyber Debate allows
for a broad array of questions to numerous candidates, with text, voice or audio
submissions as responses.
As of press time, over 2200 questions have been collected via Web White &
Blue 2000 charter sites including iVillage, MSNBC, Oxygen, PBS.com, washingtonpost.com,
USAToday.com, Yahoo! and webwhiteblue.org. A cross section of the questions so far include:
- Nearly 150 about school violence
- Over 150 on drug policy and medicinal use of marijuana
- Nearly 60 regarding President Clinton and impeachment
- Almost 30 concerning American Indian policy
- Nearly 30 on the potential of war between China and Taiwan
- Nearly 20 questions on the subject of police brutality
"Citizens are really engaged and are interested in topics that run the
gamut from presidential character to Africa policy, from fetal tissue experimentation
to D.C. statehood," said Peter Orvetti, Editor-in-Chief of Web White & Blue 2000.
"This is exactly what we hoped the Rolling Cyber Debate would do - give American
citizens a voice in the debate process, and expand the dialogue beyond a few big issues."
Web White & Blue's Rolling Cyber Debate is open to any presidential candidate
qualified on enough ballots state by state to win, in theory, a majority of electoral
votes. Campaigns participating include those of Harry Browne, Patrick J. Buchanan, George
W. Bush, Al Gore, John Hagelin and Howard Phillips. Ralph Nader's campaign has been invited
but has not agreed to participate.
The Rolling Cyber Debate is a daily exchange carried on Web, White and Blue
2000's network of 17 of the largest Internet traffic centers. The exchange has two parts:
a Message of the Day from the campaign and a response to a Question of the Day submitted
by an Internet user. Responses can take any form (video, audio, text, or links to a
candidate's website), and are not limited in length. Each campaign is permitted a
rebuttal to their opponents' message of the day and question of the day responses.
"We expect the number of questions to increase as more people log onto the
network and get involved in the Rolling Cyber Debate," said Orvetti. "Once
the televised debates end on October 17th, the Rolling Cyber Debate will be the
only remaining outlet for questioning candidates through Election Day."
The 17 sites that make up the Web White & Blue 2000 network are: ABCNEWS.com,
America Online, CNN's allpolitics.com, Excite, FOXNews.com, iVillage.com, Microsoft/MSN,
MSNBC.com, MTV.com's Choose or Lose, NetNoir.com, npr.org (National Public Radio Online),
NYTimes.com, Oxygen Media, PBS Online, USATODAY.com, washingtonpost.com's OnPolitics,
Yahoo!.
In addition to these 17 charter sites, hundreds of non-profit organizations,
schools, media outlets and individual Web sites have linked to Web White &
Blue 2000 as Participating Sites with more sites joining every day. "We
attribute part of the success of the Rolling Cyber Debate to the hundreds of Web sites
that have linked already to Web White & Blue 2000," said Steven Clift, Web
White & Blue 2000 Outreach Coordinator.
The views expressed during the Rolling Cyber Debate are those of the candidates,
and not those of Web White & Blue and the sponsorship of the Rolling Cyber Debate is
not intended as an endorsement of any candidate.
About Web White & Blue 2000
Web White & Blue 2000 is a non-profit, non-partisan project of the Markle
Foundation designed to highlight the potential of the Internet to expand and
enhance citizen participation in our nation's democratic process. Web White & Blue
2000 does not endorse or support candidates for public office and does not take
positions on partisan or election related issues.
Web White & Blue 2000 has created a network comprised of the 17 largest
Internet traffic centers which together reach 85% of the American Internet audience.
Current Charter Participants include: ABCNEWS.com, America Online, CNN's allpolitics.com,
Excite, FOXNews.com, iVillage.com, Microsoft/MSN, MSNBC.com, MTV.com's Choose or Lose,
NetNoir.com, npr.org (National Public Radio Online), NYTimes.com, Oxygen Media,
PBS Online, USATODAY.com, washingtonpost.com's OnPolitics, Yahoo!. The Web White &
Blue 2000 Web site, content syndication system, and debate technology platform have
been developed by mindshare Internet Campaigns, LLC. For additional information about
Web White & Blue 2000 please visit www.webwhiteblue.org.
About the Markle Foundation
The Markle Foundation works to realize the potential of emerging communications
media and information technology to improve people's lives and promotes the
development of communications industries that address public needs. Markle is the
largest philanthropy devoted exclusively to working in the public interest as the
information revolution unfolds and recently announced a $100 million commitment to
grants, investments and projects
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