Martin Stabe - Latest Comments in British blogs: A waste of time?

Re: British blogs: A waste of time?

Monjo — Tue, 22 Feb 2005 07:06:28 -0000

I fundamentally disagree. Firstly, blogs had a virtual 0 per cent impact on the November election in the US. Secondly, if political blogging is bigger in the US it is because their Presidential campaigns started a year ago (forget population sizes); the UK general election process hasnt started yet and will be very short.
The Sun is not conservative "It woz the Sun wot won it" after their 1996/7 switch to Labour.

Most interest in US political blogs attratcs people who already have that bias, they also attract many foreign visits because the US election is globally more important than the UK one - so UK political blogs wont be of as much international interest.

Re: British blogs: A waste of time?

Martin Stabe — Tue, 22 Feb 2005 02:47:27 -0000

Rich,

I didn’t say or mean to imply that American journalism is actually objective, only that it claims to be and is not overtly partisan the way it is here in Britain.

The fact that you are making this comment about the American media being "liberal" proves my point. This is something many people in the United States argue about. But the question of media bias is not an issue in the same way in Britain. Everybody knows the Guardian and the Independent are liberal while the Telegraph and the Sun are conservative. It’s no shock to anyone.

In broadcasting, however, it gets more complicated, because the BBC is supposed to objective, American-style. It’s no surprise, then, that one of Britian’s biggest blogs is one that accuses the BBC of being biased!

Re: British blogs: A waste of time?

Rich — Mon, 21 Feb 2005 20:55:21 -0000

Interesting analysis. Have been wanting to look into blogging in Britain to see how they compare to those in the U.S. Let me note, though, that you are way off-base if you think the American media is non-partisan! It is very liberal (at least to me) and has been on a Bush-bashing binge for the last 4 years. Of course, since George W. is not the most popular person "over there", this may be seen as "fair reporting". It is not. It just seems to me that the media, more often than not, puts a liberal spin on pretty much everything; making conservatives look like nuts. Maybe we are, but rather than spinning a story, can't we just report all the facts rather than massaging it (depending on your political bent)into what we'd like it to be?

Re: British blogs: A waste of time?

alan — Sun, 20 Feb 2005 14:24:41 -0000

Interesting analysis of UK blogging but there are aspects in UK not covered by US blogging

for instance UK MPs are beginning to set up their own blogs eg Boris johnston which might give a unique ability of small numbers in UK to communicate more effectively with MPS, unlike in USA which has too large a community of bloggers for much success

also blogs seem to give (relatively) ordinary people chance to express views that otherwise not able to

alan

Re: British blogs: A waste of time?

Alex — Sun, 20 Feb 2005 13:51:53 -0000

PS, am I the unsavoury source/sauce or is it Freerepublic(an).com?

Re: British blogs: A waste of time?

Alex — Sun, 20 Feb 2005 13:49:29 -0000

There's no reason why blogspace will not exist outside the British press for exactly the opposite reasons that it exists in the US. In the US press, there's a problem of false balance and dullness. Hence blogs go for the blood and thunder. It's a bland stack of burgers and cheese fries without flavour, until you pour blogsauce on it.

In Britain, much of the press is nakedly partisan and frankly vicious - the problem is not to add chilli, it's to add meat and flavour. Think of it as a cheap curry - plenty of spice but not much substance without a few chunks of blog chop and fat in the stew.

Re: British blogs: A waste of time?

Ken — Sun, 20 Feb 2005 06:17:20 -0000

Much to agree with, and thought provoking.

Re: British blogs: A waste of time?

Tim Worstall — Sun, 20 Feb 2005 05:57:26 -0000

This is very good indeed. Im not sure I actually agree with the analysis but certainly think it possible. I shall be adding it to the roundup.