White House open to dialogue with public. PR stunt or useful to Administration policies?

Say what you want about President Obama's administration, the President is trying to open the lines of communications to the American public. Senior advisors and directors of agencies are doing podcasts, live interviews with chat, and opening up information that is unfiltered by any outside organization prior to its release.  The role of the Press Secretary has not changed, but the sheer work load of information has. No longer is it possible to filter and source government information through a single outlet.

The dialogue is not without its drawbacks, as opponents of the President attempt to drown out any or all of the questions or statements the White House are attempting to get out.  The use of internet video technology is widespread and  blogs are common outlets for each department.  Video clips, past records of meetings and plenary sessions are happening almost daily. Of particular interest are question and answer sessions with the public - the questions asked and answered are not scripted, leaving few options for Administration officials to prepare for the questions asked.  Rapid fire Q & A is on the table and so far, the Administration is taking it all on - without complaint.

It's debatable if such dialogue is of any value to the President, but does move the yard stick on accountability, openness to criticism, asking hard questions on constituents own terms and allows a small window of one on one with senior government managers.

Will such interaction via the internet influence how government creates laws for the people? Time will tell.

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