From a ProPublica news article about narrowly targeted campaign emails:
We only know of one version of the Romney campaign email. But that's not necessarily because his campaign is any less sophisticated. The fact is, we aren't yet getting enough Romney emails to be able to say much decisively about how the campaign is targetting supporters — and there's something you can do about that.
Are you a Republican who gets campaign emails? Forward them to us! Do you have a Republican friend who gets campaign emails? Recruit them to forward the emails to us!
Good for ProPublica for trying to reach out, but one wonders why it is that the news organization is getting more forwards of Obama emails than of Romney emails. Is it because the ProPublica readership tilts toward Obama? And if that's so, if it because those pro-Obama readers are seeking out news coverage that fits with their own ideology? Sometimes the place I observe the sharpest leftward tilt at the New York Times isn't the news articles or the editorials, but the comments section of the Web site and the letters to the editor section of the newspaper. It's a dynamic between the news organization and the audience. As the ProPublica article seems to recognize, sometimes the news organization is only as good as its audience, who are also the content-co-creators, community members, and participants.