Everyone is starting to talk about who has the most political bloggers- is it Plaid, lib dems etc (its certainly not Labour in Wales that's for sure, although Labour are excellent at providing plenty of anonymous comments...)
Nevertheless, my plea is for more Welsh women to blog about Welsh politics. From scanning welshblogindex.blogspot.com I can only identify seven women bloggers- Betsan Powys, Miss Wagstaff, Heledd Fychan, Leanne Wood AM, Jill Evans MEP, Valleys Mam, and me. If there are more then let me know. Perhaps some of the other bloggers with pseudonyms are women, but I don't think they are. Jane Davidson AM started a blog on her myspace page before the election but that has fallen by the wayside, and some of the other women candidates for the National Assembly stopped blogging very soon after the May result.
It would give a different angle on the blogosphere if more women decided to blog, but I think many are put off by the mainly male orientated vibe that the blogosphere exudes. The remarks which are left in some of the comment boxes of various blogs are sexist on occasions- one comment talked about the weight of female politicians in a negative way, for example. Yes, I know that you will say that we should take it with a pinch of salt- and believe me I do, otherwise I would never blog again, but there has to be a positive way in which we can attract more women to the world of the blogs. In other fields of interest, women have embraced the blogosphere (often to the detriment of their personal lives) but here in Wales the phenomenon hasn't really taken off.
Considering that there are so many female politicians at the Assembly we should encourage a campaign to get more women blogging and contributing to the debate online. Only then can we rival Glyn Davies's infamous wet t-shirt competition blog entry a while back...
Showing posts with label miss wagstaff. Show all posts
Showing posts with label miss wagstaff. Show all posts
Tuesday, 29 July 2008
Saturday, 22 March 2008
Does blogging make you laugh out loud?
Ok, so aside from the humorous comments that result from the way some AMs look and act in the Chamber from day to day in the National Assembly, I wonder whether our ability to laugh in politics is waning at a faster rate than the influence of Peter Hain over Welsh affairs. I say this in reaction to one of Glyn Davies's latest blog posts about the McCartney vs Mills court house drama, where opposition politicians and the media launched an attack on him for his comments.
I don't think I need to go in to the detail of the blog that reached the headlines here- I want to do the opposite.
The content of what Glyn Davies said aside, he has a valid point when stating that it may be 'goodbye to humour'. When are politicians, or prospective politicians at that allowed to be tongue in cheek, humorous, sarcastic, without it offending others in some tiny way?
I took a blog post down( one of the only ones I have ever taken down) a few months ago as a politician's office contacted me in such an angry, emotional way that I believed that I had no choice but to do so. This was of course regardless of the fact that the post was intended to be taken in a light hearted way, and I stated as such at the beginning of the post.
Will all future political bloggers, especially politicians, have to provide a hazard sign at the top of their blogs if they want to, or intend to say anything that may offend others, even in the slightest manner? Obviously we have to take in to account equal opportunities and fair play when we blog, but where, and how do we draw the line? People may accuse me of having somewhat simple, vague blogs on occasions, but to be honest, this is intentional as I do not want my words to be taken out of context or misinterpreted.
If I was an anonymous blogger such as Pippa Wagstaff or Normal Mouth, then I believe that I would be able to be much more free in my ways of conveying my opinions, if only because I would not be judged for it at every stage. Of course, I hear you say that I have put myself in this position, that I am an elected representative, therefore I should be held to account for my musings. Nevertheless, if the very people who want to communicate with the public fear that they cannot due to pressures from the press, other political parties, or anonymous bloggers with vendettas, then it will be impossible for us to encourage other politicians who are currently in the dark ages of communication to embrace new technologies, and to keep their feet firmly on the ground.
Many politicians have started blogs with good intentions, but have fallen by the wayside. I don't think that this is all to do with them being lazy or uninteresting, but more to do with how they grapple with communicating in such an unregulated and judgemental environment.
( I was going to add a photo of a politician laughing but didn't want to offend anyone by picking out one particular politician;-))
I don't think I need to go in to the detail of the blog that reached the headlines here- I want to do the opposite.
The content of what Glyn Davies said aside, he has a valid point when stating that it may be 'goodbye to humour'. When are politicians, or prospective politicians at that allowed to be tongue in cheek, humorous, sarcastic, without it offending others in some tiny way?
I took a blog post down( one of the only ones I have ever taken down) a few months ago as a politician's office contacted me in such an angry, emotional way that I believed that I had no choice but to do so. This was of course regardless of the fact that the post was intended to be taken in a light hearted way, and I stated as such at the beginning of the post.
Will all future political bloggers, especially politicians, have to provide a hazard sign at the top of their blogs if they want to, or intend to say anything that may offend others, even in the slightest manner? Obviously we have to take in to account equal opportunities and fair play when we blog, but where, and how do we draw the line? People may accuse me of having somewhat simple, vague blogs on occasions, but to be honest, this is intentional as I do not want my words to be taken out of context or misinterpreted.
If I was an anonymous blogger such as Pippa Wagstaff or Normal Mouth, then I believe that I would be able to be much more free in my ways of conveying my opinions, if only because I would not be judged for it at every stage. Of course, I hear you say that I have put myself in this position, that I am an elected representative, therefore I should be held to account for my musings. Nevertheless, if the very people who want to communicate with the public fear that they cannot due to pressures from the press, other political parties, or anonymous bloggers with vendettas, then it will be impossible for us to encourage other politicians who are currently in the dark ages of communication to embrace new technologies, and to keep their feet firmly on the ground.
Many politicians have started blogs with good intentions, but have fallen by the wayside. I don't think that this is all to do with them being lazy or uninteresting, but more to do with how they grapple with communicating in such an unregulated and judgemental environment.
( I was going to add a photo of a politician laughing but didn't want to offend anyone by picking out one particular politician;-))
