Politics and new media

Political bloggers have come under a lot of fire recently - particularly from conventional print and broadcast journalists who feel threatened by new media. There was even a BBC 4 profile of Guido Fawkes last week which tried pathetically to rubbish the exposes and campaigns he runs against government corruption and malfeasance. The bloggers will succeed because they can act faster, because they dare to take more risks, and because if they're well enough informed, they can also reveal the manipulation which goes on in political life and news coverage of it. This is the 'good day to bury bad news' syndrome. They are good at knowing who is connected to whom; they know which hard questions to ask; they dare to ask why newspapers (and particularly the BBC) don't run with important stories - because it turns out the editor's wife is connected with ... and so on. That's certainly why I read Guido and Iain Dale each morning and throughout the day. And that's why some bloggers are doing a good job - because they are covering the parts other journalists cannot or will not reach.