While old-media dinosaurs like Cokie and Steven Roberts bash the Web as a threat to representative democracy, netizens are proving them wrong at democracy.net.
With a mission to foster new avenues of civic participation, democracy.net is dragging the art of politics into cyberspace - think C Span interactive. Cobbled together on a shoestring budget, the site is the latest joint venture between Voters Telecommunications Watch and the Center for Democracy and Technology (CDT).
Democracy.net is already creating a stir - among elected officials and netizens. A recent cybercast of congressional hearings on cryptography underscores the promise of new-media politics: whereas only 100 people could fit into the well-appointed room in the Senate's Russell Building, more than 700 gathered online. Representatives Rick White (R Washington) and Anna Eshoo (D-California) and FCC chair Reed�`-��D hosted RealA�m� chats.
"TV doesn't allow interaction," says CDT's Jonah Seiger. "The Net provides an opportunity to create government without walls."
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