Can the old media dogs learn new tricks?
This week at the Labour Party conference I attended the excellent “Twinge” event organised jointly by Channel 4 News and Fishburn Hedges.
The event was ably chaired by the Net savvy Channel 4 News presenter Krishnan Guru Murthy. Yet even Krishnan nearly choked when I suggested we ignore the telly and move the the whole debate onto Facebook.
Here’s my thinking:
1. Livestream a three-way debate onto Facebook.
2. Allow the 25 million UK users of Facebook to participate by commenting both before, during and after the event.
3. Make it a three hour debate broken down into different policy themes. Why 3 hours? Well, the longer debate, the more it moves away from soundbite politics as it demands a grasp of detail.
4. Political Telly people will have to cover the event any way.
When CNN teamed up with Facebook to cover the Presidential inauguration in the States, the effect was instant and massive. According to Mashable at the time:
* There were 600,000 plus status updates.
* 4000 people per minute commented on the live feed.
* 21.3 million live video streams were provided.
* Millions of people logged on to Facebook during the speech with 1.3 million concurrent live streams at the peak.
If you want to give greater ownership of the next election to the people who matter, the concerned civic minded citizens who care about the world around them, then embrace the digital age and skip the old broadcasters. It will enrich the debate, deepen understanding of the issues and give the nation an opportunity to really see our political leaders, without the spin doctors shielding them.
9 comments ↓
Excellent idea Tom.
I can see why Krishnan didn’t welcome the idea with open arms but if we’re going to incorporate social media into mainstream media (as Channel 4 are doing) we might as well get on with experiments like this.
I like the idea, in principle, but would it actually do much beyond making people *feel* more engaged (not that that’s a bad thing in itself)? As you say, in the US equivalent, “4000 people per minute commented on the live feed” – no one can be reading all those comments, or even a reasonable sample of them. It becomes, effectively, broadcast-only, simply as a matter of scale.
“If you want to give greater ownership of the next election to the people who matter, the concerned civic minded citizens who care about the world around them” then give them a voting system where their votes count, then move the debate on line.
Americans protest both for and against Health care reforms; Italian football supporters protest when changes are proposed which threaten the culture of their game; Ireland votes ‘No’ to Europe and they have to vote again (presumably until they get the answer ‘right’);
In England politicians say “we need to have the debate” when they’ve no intention of changing their minds; the state finds ever new ways to interfere in peoples private lives (from child-minding to id cards); people are pushed over and killed in the street, or shot in the head on the tube by the police.
The electorate choose to do nothing. Not because we don’t care but because it makes no difference any more.
Moving a four-yearly vote to the internet doesn’t in itself mean people will be more engaged in the political process. The spin-machine will still interfere in the process, and the victorious party will march on.
And that’s really sad.
Maybe Facebook should be involved, but it should definitely NOT be in the hands of SKY.
The way the Lib-Dems are sinking Clegg’s presence will be a considerable concession by the PM.
I well recall the old pro Enoch Powell’s pretences that he was unaware of his opponents, let alone their names.
Brown Will remember that he IS in the driving seat, and we already know that his single mindedness is tendentiously misinterpreted by tory hacks & trolls blether 4 Chameleon that when he decides when he will say and what he will say he is dithering and obdurate.
I guess he will offer a debate to Chameleon. It would be more appropriate if he offered one to Ashcroft imho.
Great idea – though not today, mind. Not if you’re actually trying to use the blessed beast anyway.
Good suggestion. What would we have to do to make it happen?
With Regards
john
Maybe Facebook should be involved, but it should definitely NOT be in the hands of SKY.
The way the Lib-Dems are sinking Clegg’s presence will be a considerable concession by the PM.
I well recall the old pro Enoch Powell’s pretences that he was unaware of his opponents, let alone their names.
Brown Will remember that he IS in the driving seat, and we already know that his single mindedness is tendentiously misinterpreted by tory hacks & trolls blether 4 Chameleon that when he decides when he will say and what he will say he is dithering and obdurate.
I guess he will offer a debate to Chameleon. It would be more appropriate if he offered one to Ashcroft imho.
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