I'm listening to Jane Davidson talk about blogging on Radio Wales. She blogged during the election, but has since stopped. She started to blog in a bid to reach out to 'younger voters', so now the election is over, I'm assuming that young people just fall off the face of the earth....
Paul Flynn is saying that bloggers in the US are very effective, and that we can raise important issues on our blogs. It seems that the Radio interviewer is suggesting that Paul Flynn MP has more scope to discuss campaigns on his blog as he is not a Government Minister, but I would hasten to disagree. Jane Davidson's musings in her role as Environment Minister would surely be of interest to the Welsh public( if she dared discuss the more controverial issues, and not the ones about visiting Ponty market;-)
The future of politics is on the blogosphere says our Paul, but so many politicians still continue to shun it as a viable form of communication. With the discussion of blogs during the recent Audit committee at the National Assembly, the whole area of politicians blogging is becoming a hot topic. Whereas the American Presidential election is (arguably) reliant on the internet and blogging alike, it seems that here in Wales our cautious streak as a Nation is working overtime, and those seeking to 'police' representations made by AM's are perhaps intending on using blogs as a scape goat for containing discussion on Welsh political issues.
It is true of course that blogging is a threat to the mainstream media at present, but as opposed to viewing it as a threat, I believe that we must accept the inevitable growth of the blogosphere and new ways of communicating, as opposed to trying too hard to appear as if it never existed in the first place.
Perhaps Jane Davidson will take up blogging again when she starts to help Carwyn Jones during the Leadership of the Labour party campaign. In my opinion, the more AM's who blog, the better. Make it a New Year's Resolution all!
2 comments:
I'm not personally entirely convinced by the need or indeed impact of blogging, and i think politicians if they don't want to blog shouldn't. Blogs can also cause problems for those who write them - the best example is that former assistant to a Labour AM who threw the toys out of the pram and made it almost impossible, i would think, that any politician would ever employ him again (can't remember his name was in Western Mail late last year).
it certainly has dangers, that is true, but I think that it is a positive way of communicating a message if you use it as such.
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