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Originally Posted by Toccata & Fugue
So what you're saying is that a politician notices the internet and we should give two shits one way or the other. As it happens the PM has done any number of webcasts and the like. Its just TV in a different way. I don't understand why you would even care. Why woudl you even say "all spin and no substance", what does that even mean? The substance can be read anywhere in any newspaper or the BBC website.
Its kind of sad, although in no way suprising that anyone would even consider this sort of gimmickry when looking at the main political parties as being anything other than the usual tomfoolery like appearing on Reality TV shows, going on Richard and Judy or MTV, or whatever.
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It is political advertising. Yes, it is simply another branding excercise in order to entrench a personality based "Presidential" political system. Is it indicative of a wider trend? I think so. Is this trend anything new? Probably not.
To a certain extent it
is simply another form of "gimmickry". Indeed this is a form of spin is it not? The 'substance', i.e. the policies are absent from this form of political broadcast, this is certainly not the ideal medium for that sort of thing. Even if it were, the party would probably not want to get into an involved discussion about what it intends to do with all those "pesky negro's cluttering up our welfare system". They would rather obfuscate the issue and dress it up in terms like "Social Responsibility" and "Caring for the environment".
All that might lead to the conclusion that this is yet another inherently shit form of political broadcasting, where the 'message' is couched entirely in slogans and catch phrases. Afterall, it is in the politicians interest to feed us this tripe. The Public likes to hear easily digestible 30 second sound bites don't they?
If there is a problem here, does it lie with the messenger, the medium, or the recievers (ie the public)? I had hoped that this sort of mediated communication between the politicians and the public via the internet could have positive spinoffs. Some new utopian dream of deliberative democracy and public participation, a bastardised form of the "Public Sphere" if you will. That was a few years ago; these days it seems like a load of idealistic nonsense.
It is just another form of advertising gimmickry, you are right, and I suppose I don't care all that much. Just another bright shiney flashy thing to capture the publics attention for a day or two.