e.politics: online advocacy tools & tactics

Hillary Clinton Launches Own News Aggregator Site

June 14th, 2007

Hmmmm, here’s an interesting development in the constant blurring of the lines between media — Hillary Clinton has launched a new site called HillaryHub.com, which is essentially a news aggregator. The site collects news stories, blog posts and videos about Hillary and puts them up on a straightforward three-column page without explicit commentary, though they’re clearly selected and headlined to put Hillary in the best light.

Ben Smith at the Politico has a good write-up and some interesting quotes: “I grew up in New York reading tabloids; my dream job is to edit the New York Post,” [site manager Howard] Wolfson said. “So we set up something that has a little of that flavor and feel to it.” Smith draws parallels between HillaryHub and other aggregators-with-an-agenda, such as the Drudge Report and Major League Baseball’s MLB.com.

I gotta say, this is a new one on me — campaign sites usually have a news-about-the-candidate section, but this takes it a step beyond, particularly in its somewhat tongue-in-cheek attitude. My question — who’s the intended audience? Journalists, bloggers and political activists more than the general public, I’d assume. This seems to be meant for the opinion-leader crowd rather than for potential voters. Niche sites for different audience segments? What’s next?

– cpd