During a campaign every party strives to gain media coverage. According to some bloggers there is a battle raging between ‘new’, online forms of communication, and ‘old’, static ways of transmitting news. The truth is more incestuous. Many political blogstars and tweetterati are paid-up members of the media elite. Paul Waugh, Benedict Brogan, Nick Robinson, the list goes on. Technology may be facilitating a power shift between a newspaper and its journalist. Reporters are building up their own fan base. I don’t read the Standard but I follow @paulwaugh on twitter. I don’t buy the Telegraph but I RSS feed Ed West’s blog.
The 2005 election campaign showed that people got online news from established media outlets. A staggering 78% of all election related internet news traffic went to the BBC. The 2010 landscape is different, but not drastically so. There are a few established internet-based political heavy weights, such as Guido Fawkes and Ian Dale, but even they need the ‘dead tree press’ to give them a significant audience and, thus, influence. Alan Duncan would not have been demoted if the video that showed him complaining that MPs are forced to live on rations had stayed only on-line. Damien McBride would not have been forced to resign if the Sunday Times had not followed up blogger evidence.
While the main media will still trump non-main stream commentators in terms of impact, the cross-pollination does give the online world much more chance to influence the agenda. At its best, bloggers can find and drive a story to a conclusion that it would never have come to without the online impetus. Journalists know that the blogosphere can provide good copy and scour it accordingly.
Energising the Base
The internet is unlikely to be responsible for directly affecting the opinions of swing voters. The utopian vision of the internet is that it would facilitate disintermediation. In a political context this means voters actively seeking information on political issues, rather than passively accepting what is fed to them by traditional information gatekeepers. There is no evidence to suggest that this situation has occurred. In the 2005 election only 3.5% of the public visited a party website. The two most important campaigning events each day will still be the morning newspapers and the 10 o’clock news.
It is a political urban myth that Barak Obama ran an internet-dominated campaign. Tapping into the power of social networking was an important component of his strategy but it boosted ‘traditional’ techniques, such as big TV advert buys and set-piece speeches, rather than overshadowing them. The internet was used to energise his supporters. It was easier for people to donate money to his cause. His online operation also helped to co-ordinate the massive door-to-door operation, which the Obama campaign unleashed on the streets of purple states.
The reality of the internet is that people choose to receive information from like-minded sources. Bloggers mainly link to similarly partisan sites. There is a stark lack of non-partisan voices in the political blogasphere. If you followed the #TrevCam twitter feed, which enabled people to comment on the Trevor McDonald interview of David Cameron as it unfolded, it would not have taken you long to realise that all those who contributed had a strong pre-disposed opinion. The same twitters could have had exactly the same “Cameron is great” “Cameron is rubbish” debate without the need for the programme. This partisan engagement is potentially a powerful tool for parties as they will be able to feed information to their supporters and encourage them to do more than they maybe would have. The dangers are that messages cannot be controlled or activists will believe that writing a blog post/commenting on Conservativehome is an adequate replacement for time spent pounding the street.
Influencing the Internal Debate
If you are still reading this post you are either my family (Hi Dad) or a political activist. We are all influencing each other. The biggest direct impact of political networking is in facilitating a multitude of debates within parties. Groups can create a space that they populate with a platform that they believe can help their party campaign and govern effectively (BTW you can now follow @platformten on twitter). While the average person has never heard of Conservativehome the average Tory MP/PPC/CCHQ staffer will constantly observe the site’s direction of travel. The major issue for parties in trying to harness these debates is to find the balance between leading and being led. It’s worth remembering that the online world mirrors the real world in that those who shout the loudest and longest are not necessarily right or relevant.
Conclusion
One of the things I will reflect upon at the end of election campaign is how new media has risen to the challenge of being a part of the process. In the 2005 election the internet was an infant, relying almost exclusively on the support provided by the mainstream media. In this election the internet is in its teenage period. It wants to break free from its old-fashioned parents. While it does have a certain level of independence it still relies, begrudgingly, on the support of those it is trying to break away from. I’m sure at times there will be the odd hissy-fit. Will we have a stand-alone internet based election by 2014? We shall see.
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As important as the new media are, I’d like to predict that the election will turn as much on candidates and activists knocking on doors and finding out what people are concerned about as it ever has.
I agree with most of what you say. I’m not in the business of winning elections. I’m in the mischief making business. The fact that I make mischief for powerful people just makes it more fun. So put me in the petulant teenage box.
Frugal Dougal – 100% agree. You can only get a real feel for a place if you knock on doors and ask residents what’s important to them. My non-political friends find it bizarre that us canvassers have the guts to knock on random doors. But in my experience the vast majority of people are very happy to be asked their opinion.
Gudio – As someone who looks at your blog around 3 times a day all I would say is keep-up the good work. There are plenty of people in politics (inc the Lobby) who need to be brought down to earth, and you do it very well.
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