Bloggers blab about Blair
2005-05-01 14:04
London - Be it personal rant or party propaganda, blogging has taken its place in public debate in Britain's election campaign, forming a powerful internet forum that could help shape Thursday's polling outcome.
Some media observers have compared Britain's online debate to the mass blogging that emerged as one of the most dynamic elements in the US presidential race last November.
Blogs, short for weblogs, are online diaries, sometimes by fiercely-partisan writers, that are being lapped up by the internet masses.
Bloggers - the writers of the journals - have become a vital source of information and commentary, and an alternative to traditional newspapers and television.
The best British election blogs cover the spectrum of political viewpoints on Prime Minister Tony Blair's Labour Party and the opposition Conservatives and Liberal Democrats.
They often include first-hand commentary, original reporting or - in the case of anti-establishment activist blogs like "Spin On", "Order Order" or "Bloggerheads" - make it their goal to expose and dissect the parties' communication strategies.
Others, like the free-market Adam Smith Institute or certain BBC political journalists, contribute stinging satire and erudite political savvy to spice up the massive volume of copy already written about the impending election.
Blogs "allow people who aren't party and privy to the 'Westminster set' to create debates of their own," said former Conservative leader Iain Duncan Smith.
Those debates, which spring up on the edge of the media world, are often "the debates that matter most" to regular Britons, he said.
Cherie Blair
Britain's 44 million eligible voters are expected to return Blair to power for a third consecutive term, but a considerable minority are still wavering, and the parties are vying online for their vote with a "personal" touch.
Blair has his blog - a chatty first-person "diary" of the campaign trail.
The prime minister doesn't write it, of course. But party loyals say he chooses the daily themes and gives it a quick readover before it is posted online.
The blog is a touch dry, however, generally void of the humour, anecdote and personality that normally distinguish the Internet postings from mainstream media and party speeches.
Liberal Democrat leader Charles Kennedy follows suit, with an executive last-glance at his not-so-personal blog.
The Conservatives have chosen a slightly different route, choosing the telegenic, popular wife of party leader Michael Howard as their personal blogger.
Sandra Howard's entries seems more authentic, marked by touches of humour and wry observations about cross-country campaigning.
In one entry, she complained that Cherie Blair, the lawyer wife of the prime minister, had booked London's best hairdresser for the entire duration of the month-long campaign.