Pod-Side Chat: Patrick to Appear Online

By COLLEEN SULLIVAN

BOSTON – In a 21st-century twist on the fire-side chat, Gov. Deval Patrick will begin podcasting Friday.

Patrick’s first three- to five-minute message will be released on www.mass.gov.

A podcast is an audio file that can be heard on a computer or a portable music player like Apple’s iPod. Users can subscribe to the podcast, and it is then automatically downloaded to their computer.

The first podcast will include Patrick’s thoughts on his first few weeks in office, some early initiatives including the Commonwealth Corps and pending budget decisions.

Politicians have used technology to get their message directly to the public ever since President Franklin Roosevelt invited America to pull an armchair up to the radio for his famous fire-side chats.

“During my campaign, people from across the state who had checked out of politics and government checked back in,” Patrick said in a speech to the Massachusetts Technology Leadership Council yesterday. “We have a responsibility to keep those people engaged.”

Podcasts and other addresses by way of radio or the Internet also allow politicians to avoid reporters and their questions. Last week, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York and Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois announced their presidential campaigns on their Web sites.

It’s a growing trend in politics. The governors of California, Delaware, Wisconsin and West Virginia all have blogs and the governors of Michigan, Kentucky, Illinois and Tennessee are podcasting.

Howard Dean’s 2004 presidential run is credited with popularizing use of the Internet for political purposes.

(c) 2007 Patriot Ledger, The; Quincy, Mass.. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.