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Move over Tom Brokaw, Dan Rather and Peter Jennings. Step aside CNN, MSNBC, and Fox.
It's the beginning of the end of the sound bite as we know it. Today John Kerry became the first presidential candidate to announce his vice presidential candidate over the Web.
After Howard Dean proved that the Internet could be a potent fundraising weapon - politicians in both parties began using it more aggressively as a communications tool to reach their constituency. But never before has it been used as the primary vehicle for a major national political announcement.
For the last 40 years, that privilege has been given to the major TV networks.
Those in the Internet business have talked about convergence for years. But the networks only got to play a supporting role for the Kerry announcement by covering it on TV and running stories on their sites after the announcment was already made.
Unlike television, the Internet allowed Kerry to make his announcment directly on his site and to his some million plus email subscribers. So he was able to say exactly what he wanted to say, how he wanted to say it - without the filter of the media.
This isn't convergence.
This signals that the Internet is destined to become the communication medium of our time. And this is just the beginning.
Watch both candidates sites for the remainder of the election cycle to see how this trend plays out:
And don't miss Joe Trippe's new book, The Revolution Won't Be Televised for the ways both parties will be using the Internet to mobilize millions of activists to register voters, educate them on the issues, and get them to vote.
Will the Internet-powered revolution succeed? Joe Trippi thinks it will, and so do I.