In a speech to the Hansard Society, Hazel Blears has talked about political bloggers. See here for BBC report.
“The most popular blogs are right-wing, ranging from the considered Tory views of Iain Dale, to the vicious nihilism of Guido Fawkes,” she said.
But she added: “Unless and until political blogging ‘adds value’ to our political culture, by allowing new and disparate voices, ideas and legitimate protest and challenge, and until the mainstream media reports politics in a calmer, more responsible manner, it will continue to fuel a culture of cynicism and pessimism.”
Guido Fawkes has made the following riposte which I agree with.
“Take a memo Ms Blears, we are not here to ‘add value’, or do what politicians want, Guido has his own values and aims to hit back at political hypocrisy and lies. Politicians make laws, so they should be held to account, to a higher standard,” he wrote.
John Marek one of our own politicians (Independent, Wrexham) has said…
“Blogs appear to be used by a disproportionately large number of headbangers and people without a life.”
We say to politicians like Marek… so Barack Obama is a ‘headbanger’ according to you, since inspired use of blogs and the Internet propelled him from nowheresville to the US Presidency. As I have stated before, most politicians in the UK (with some honorable blogging exceptions) are dinosaurs and way behind ‘the curve’.
We need a big clearout.
Here is Iain Dale’s take on this
I have also blogged on this issue
http://dylanje.blogspot.com/2008/11/political-blogging.html
It would seem that Labour’s blog strategy is to use their so-called rebuttal unit to post comments across the blogosphere.
The following extract from my entry sums their strategy up perfectly:
“The downside of blogging in general is that many people on the Internet contribute to the downward spiral of political discourse in America by spreading rumors, innuendo and untruths and by showing little or no respect for their opponents”.
With the exception of Huw Lewis, the Labour Party in Wales seem reluctant to engage in blogging. If they did have the courage to put their opinions and polciies out there for scrutiny, then I and many others would be more than happy to reciprocate with comments.