No longer do organizations, campaigns, political candidates and politicians need to rely on mainstream media coverage. As the media industry has consolidated and budgets have been cut, maintream media's ability to cover small stories has diminished, and viewer/reader/listenership has declined.
Technology has made it possible for even the "poorest" organization to produce an online website, email content to supporters and spread its message. Recent advances in web technology including Blogging, RSS Syndication and PodCasting allow savvy groups to produce compelling content and get it seen/read/heard by the public.