BeautifulBurnout
11-07-2008, 03:43 AM
Now you Americans have someone sensible at the helm of your country at long last, I wanted to draw people's attention to this speech by Hazel Blears.
Nihilistic New Media (http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/nov/05/blogging-politics?commentpage=1)
This is an edited extract from a speech, called Tackling Political Disengagement, that Hazel Blears is giving today to the Hansard Society.
I know that every generation of politicians complains about the state of political culture, about the media, about young people's lack of involvement, about radical fringe movements, and so on.
We must be careful not to eulogise some mythical political golden age, with father coming home from the union meeting to discuss the Irish question with the children over supper, while mother prepares her talk on free trade for the Co-operative Women's Guild.
No such age of mass participation ever existed. The Chartist movement, the rise of the trade unions, the suffragettes, the Liberal, Labour or Conservative Parties: these were only ever minority pursuits in Britain.
But with the caveat that politicians always complain about their own political culture, let me say that we are witnessing a dangerous corrosion in our political culture, on a scale much more profound than previous ages, and the role of the media must be examined in this context.
Famously, Tony Blair called the media a "feral beast" (http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2007/jun/13/media.television) in one of his last speeches as prime minister. But behind the eye-catching phrase was a serious and helpful analysis of a 24-hour broadcast media and shrinking, and increasingly competitive, newspaper market which demands more impact from its reporting – not the reporting of facts to enable citizens to make sense of the world, but the translation of every political discussion into a row, every difficulty a crisis, every rocky patch for the prime minister the "worst week ever".
The changing structure of the media is what drives this desire for impact and the retreat from dispassionate reporting.
And I would single out the rise of the commentariat as especially note-worthy. It is within living memory that journalists' names started to appear in newspapers; before then, no name was attached to articles. And in recent years commentary has taken over from investigation or news reporting, to the point where commentators are viewed by some as every bit as important as elected politicians, with views as valid as cabinet ministers. And if you can wield influence and even power, without ever standing for office or being held to account by an electorate, it further undermines our democracy.
The commentariat operates without scrutiny or redress. They cannot be held to account for their views, even when they perform the most athletic and acrobatic of flip-flops in the space of a few weeks. I can understand when commentators disagree with each other; it's when they disagree with themselves we should worry.
There will always be a role for political commentary, providing perspective, illumination and explanation. But editors need to do more to disentangle it from news reporting, and to allow elected politicians the same kind of prominent space for comment as people who have never stood for office.
This brings me to the role of political bloggers. Perhaps because of the nature of the technology, there is a tendency for political blogs to have a Samizdat style. The most popular blogs are rightwing, ranging from the considered Tory views of Iain Dale (http://www.iaindale.blogspot.com/), to the vicious nihilism of Guido Fawkes (http://www.order-order.com/). Perhaps this is simply anti-establishment. Blogs have only existed under a Labour government. Perhaps if there was a Tory government, all the leading blogs would be left-of-centre?
There are some informative and entertaining political blogs, including those written by elected councillors. But mostly, political blogs are written by people with a disdain for the political system and politicians, who see their function as unearthing scandals, conspiracies and perceived hypocrisy.
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 despair.
My highlighting. As I said on the blog, words fail me, other than four-letter ones. This, combined with the governments plans to have a black-box collecting all our emails and internet traffic records, indicates a desire by Nu Labour to stamp on dissenters and control thought.
The more this goes on the more I want to move to Canada. Although it would be safe to move to the States now. ;)
Nihilistic New Media (http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/nov/05/blogging-politics?commentpage=1)
This is an edited extract from a speech, called Tackling Political Disengagement, that Hazel Blears is giving today to the Hansard Society.
I know that every generation of politicians complains about the state of political culture, about the media, about young people's lack of involvement, about radical fringe movements, and so on.
We must be careful not to eulogise some mythical political golden age, with father coming home from the union meeting to discuss the Irish question with the children over supper, while mother prepares her talk on free trade for the Co-operative Women's Guild.
No such age of mass participation ever existed. The Chartist movement, the rise of the trade unions, the suffragettes, the Liberal, Labour or Conservative Parties: these were only ever minority pursuits in Britain.
But with the caveat that politicians always complain about their own political culture, let me say that we are witnessing a dangerous corrosion in our political culture, on a scale much more profound than previous ages, and the role of the media must be examined in this context.
Famously, Tony Blair called the media a "feral beast" (http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2007/jun/13/media.television) in one of his last speeches as prime minister. But behind the eye-catching phrase was a serious and helpful analysis of a 24-hour broadcast media and shrinking, and increasingly competitive, newspaper market which demands more impact from its reporting – not the reporting of facts to enable citizens to make sense of the world, but the translation of every political discussion into a row, every difficulty a crisis, every rocky patch for the prime minister the "worst week ever".
The changing structure of the media is what drives this desire for impact and the retreat from dispassionate reporting.
And I would single out the rise of the commentariat as especially note-worthy. It is within living memory that journalists' names started to appear in newspapers; before then, no name was attached to articles. And in recent years commentary has taken over from investigation or news reporting, to the point where commentators are viewed by some as every bit as important as elected politicians, with views as valid as cabinet ministers. And if you can wield influence and even power, without ever standing for office or being held to account by an electorate, it further undermines our democracy.
The commentariat operates without scrutiny or redress. They cannot be held to account for their views, even when they perform the most athletic and acrobatic of flip-flops in the space of a few weeks. I can understand when commentators disagree with each other; it's when they disagree with themselves we should worry.
There will always be a role for political commentary, providing perspective, illumination and explanation. But editors need to do more to disentangle it from news reporting, and to allow elected politicians the same kind of prominent space for comment as people who have never stood for office.
This brings me to the role of political bloggers. Perhaps because of the nature of the technology, there is a tendency for political blogs to have a Samizdat style. The most popular blogs are rightwing, ranging from the considered Tory views of Iain Dale (http://www.iaindale.blogspot.com/), to the vicious nihilism of Guido Fawkes (http://www.order-order.com/). Perhaps this is simply anti-establishment. Blogs have only existed under a Labour government. Perhaps if there was a Tory government, all the leading blogs would be left-of-centre?
There are some informative and entertaining political blogs, including those written by elected councillors. But mostly, political blogs are written by people with a disdain for the political system and politicians, who see their function as unearthing scandals, conspiracies and perceived hypocrisy.
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 despair.
My highlighting. As I said on the blog, words fail me, other than four-letter ones. This, combined with the governments plans to have a black-box collecting all our emails and internet traffic records, indicates a desire by Nu Labour to stamp on dissenters and control thought.
The more this goes on the more I want to move to Canada. Although it would be safe to move to the States now. ;)