Consumer-Generated Media Leads to Political Damage Control

Social media created headaches for two politicians this week.

Gil Gutknecht, a Minnesota Congressman, was the latest political figure caught trying to edit his own biography on Wikipedia. On two occasions, according to this report, Gutknecht’s office tried to “remove a 128-word entry on him and replace it with a more flattering 315-word entry taken from his official congressional biography.”

The sleuth may surprise you: he’s a 15-year-old, home-schooled volunteer editor from Nashville who spends free time protecting the integrity of Wikipedia entries. Gutknecht’s office didn’t deny changing the entry but a spokesperson encourages people to “find a more trustworthy place to do their research.”

Meanwhile, if you haven’t heard already, Senator George Allen of Virginia spent most of the week in major damage control mode after a racially-insensitive remark during a speech. The comments from Allen, a possible presidential hopeful in 2008, took place as a volunteer for his opponent’s campaign filmed the speech on a handheld MiniDV camcorder. Within hours, the video was on YouTube and the political firestorms have lasted for days.

Wiki edit wars and consumer-generated videos: the newest political weapons.