Bloggers postulate on politics

Canadian television network CTV is using content management and blogging technology from iUpload as the foundation for its online political forum, CTV Election 2006's Campaign Connection.

Campaign Connection is a community Web site where CTV reporters and staff, political experts and anyone interested in the 2006 election, can take part in the latest political discussions. Participants can contribute news items and photographs, as well as events for the election calendar.

"The CTV Election 2006 community blog site has let us tap a new editorial wellspring that includes both journalists and our public," says Mark Sikstrom, executive producer of CTV news syndication and CTV.ca. "The blogging technology has not only helped us reach a new audience, but it has also created an intelligent forum where pundits, reporters and average Canadian citizens can easily become involved in an interactive dialogue about today's key political issues."

A recent press release from iUpload lists the following benefits of the Campaign Connection blog site:

• increased diversity of election coverage. The community blog broadens election reporting and gives participants the opportunity to share their opinions.
• editorial ease. The technology provides online editorial staff with easy-to-use editorial and approval functionality. Editors can approve, reject, recategorize, flag contributed content and designate familiar bloggers as trusted contributors.
• ease of use. All contributed content is fully searchable, enabling readers to find the most relevant local news.

"[The] blog forum, with its mixture of expert opinion, news stories and citizen journalism, is another great example of the success and revitalization that blog communities are bringing to traditional media outlets," says iUpload CEO Robin Hopper.