[kyorochan]

Hello. I wrote an argumentative essay and topic is Internet and Political Knowledge. I wrote introduction and body paragraphs. I would like to correct my grammar mistakes and word choice. I am having a lot of grammar problems... I know I am getting a lot of help from you, but I need your help. I would appreciate any help! Thank you very much!

Our Politics textbook states that public trust in American government has declined, and that Americans do not feel confident that they influence governmental policy. It is not clear if the cause is a lack of political knowledge or merely lack of interest. According to Pew Internet and American Life Survey, young Americans use of news sources during the 2008 election showed TV to be the primary source, followed by the Internet. However, I think the Internet is the primary source among young people. The Internet is more versatile than TV and provides constant availability. Also, most TV programs fail to provide detailed information, and they are not interactive. Therefore, I want readers to understand that the Internet does make citizens politically informed and increases their sense of political efficacy.

Political surveys, such as “How long is the term of office for a U.S. Senator?” is a way to determine how well informed the public is. Differential motivations within survey interviews van distort political knowledge measures and bias conclusions that come from the data. According to percentage of the population reporting that they voted 2004, the percentage of voters in the 8th grade or lower was fifty-five percent, thirty-five percent were schoolers, fifty-five percent were high school graduates, seventy percent were college students, and seventy-five percent were college graduates. The people who are more educated are better equipped to answer for the survey because they are educated in regards to politics at their schools and have learned how to use popular internet sources to get political information. Other sources, such as books, are also useful, but the Internet sources are faster than the books to search something.

Although I think that Internet is the primary source for gathering the political information, there are some disadvantages. There is so much information, so it is hard to sorting out particular issue. Also, there is a possibility of danger of finding unwanted information. Moreover, there is a possibility of damage by virus or spyware. On the other hand, advantages are that I am able to get various information everyday for 24 hours. I cannot watch TV if it is not televising, and I cannot read newspaper if it is not published. Also, the information can be saved. The data can be downloaded. It is possible to gather international information. Volume of the information is very enormous and unlimited in particular to a delivery. It makes a quick report. And it is possible to search for information. The information and my idea can be shared.

Disadvantages of TV are that I cannot share the information that I have gotten, so there is no way to be evaluated my opinion by others. The information is biased. Basically TV cannot skip commercials, so it is impossible to get the information I want like the Internet. TV provides the same news over and over again, so I am sick of watching them. However, it is difficult to get missed information again if I did not record a scene. There are advantages that only TV has. The information is enormous; it is enough utility value for documentary. TV can provide atmosphere of art exhibition or baseball broadcasting that words cannot express. The historical fastest information as on-the-spot TV coverage can also be made only by a television as expected.

Even though TV can provide the information very fast, is the information really true? As voting day gets near, I can see a commercial that compares two candidates. Propaganda like I should vote candidate A, not candidate B is conventional and boring. I think this commercial aims to decreases one’s value. Is this because the candidate A provided TV station lots of bribe, or is this because the TV station just dislike the candidate B? What is the real purpose of this commercial? I would say it is impossible to get the answers for these questions through the TV. If a very entertain TV shows comes next while thinking about these answers alone, I would forget what I was thinking and will fascinated by the entertainment. If I am remembering that commercial on the voting day subconsciously and vote for that candidate, it might have a negative impact on both other citizens and me. I assume it becomes that I cannot vote for one who I want, so I cannot be a part of active citizen.

The propaganda exists on the Internet, too. For example, if I visit a web page, I usually see flash movie. When it was near to the voting day, I have seen that the flash movie said to vote someone. User does not decide to vote that person. The user goes to the page’s forum and discuss with other people about their opinion, so the user can take second look. During the 2007-2008 U.S. presidential primaries, CNN partnered with YouTube, and people could post their thirty-second question videos to get the candidates’ opinion. I think it was appropriate for current Internet technology. In total, nearly 8000 citizens’ videos were posted. Most young people visit on YouTube and enjoy posting their videos or watching others’ videos, so I think that this CNN/YouTube debate was targeting young citizens’ participation. Approximately 41 percent turnout of 18- to 29 year-olds in 2000 cast a ballot, but 52 percent of young citizens (18- to 29 year-olds) cast a ballot in 2008. Also, nearly two third of all question selected for inclusion by CNN and put to the candidates was college students. The Republican’s November YouTube debate attracted the largest viewing audience – nearly 5 million viewers. Also, Democrat’s July debate drew 2.6 million viewers. These numbers say it was the biggest audiences since measurements began in 1992 for a cable news debate of those between 18 and 24, so their political activity has changed. Accordingly, many emails, text messages, and Facebook posts are also successful in mobilizing younger voters like never before.

Citizens’ knowledge and their strong argument can provide the most important benefit to governmental activity. The Internet that includes sociable factors that TV does not have provides citizens information easily, and it increases their political knowledge. TV and newspaper, mass media, cannot be made up without their sponsors, but the Internet’s sponsors are users. The Internet sponsor could be arising if it is an interesting opinion for the sponsor. In other words, the sender of information chooses sponsor; there might be few people who just wish to have many sponsors like media. Media can bring many opinions together and make them to one particular opinion, so the media can be biased. However, the Internet has enormous choices, so I can make a choice whether it is good or bad. Therefore, I think the Internet is outstanding than the media. In addition, if the Internet can be controlled by some big power, I can say that an individual opinion can be controlled easily like the media.