— From Jim Pickard, FT Political Correspondent, on the Labour leadership’s likely approach to LabourList from now on. If true, it’s a pity. Parties need to use the web to connect the grassroots to the leadership.
The Draper/McBride affair is a mess of contradictory frames.
We have a right wing blogger, Paul Staines, whose entire site is predicated on innuendo, gossip and rumour, claiming to be a beacon of truth, and being framed as such by Conservative bloggers such as Tim Mongomerie.
We have Draper and McBride’s misguided and desperate attempt to emulate the Staines approach, framing new media through the lens of 1990s style sleaze-spin, and entirely missing the point about the internet, political parties, and citizen engagement.
Then there is the Brown and Blair “war years” frame-that-will-not-die.
And we have the mainstream media frame: “I told you so - this is what happens when you descend into the blogosphere.”
“The Society for New Communications Research is a global nonprofit 501(c)(3) think tank dedicated to the advanced study of the latest developments in new media and communications, and their effect on traditional media and business models, communications, culture and society.”
Intriguing.
Professor of Political Science and Co-Director of the New Political Communication Unit in the Department of Politics and International Relations at Royal Holloway, University of London.
ELSEWHERE
Internet Politics Booksite