There's a larger version of this graph HERE, but the green line is my blog, red, the Labour website and the Blue, the Tory website. Apparently more people have searched for my name than John Prescott's. Worrying!
In fairness, I should point out that Guido is getting even more hits, as THIS analysis shows. So what does this all show, apart from being nice to hear for Guido and me? For blogs such as ours to have overtaken main Party websites is quite astonishing. It shows that people are very happy to get their political information from an increasingly diverse range of resources. The natural implication is for all three political parties to try to influence the output of the blogs.
Thanks to Heather Hopkins at Hitwise for all the analysis.
UPDATE: The Press Gazette has a major feature on political blogging HERE. Some choice extracts...
Colin Brown, The Independent's deputy political editor, who wrote a biography of Prescott, says accusations that journalists deliberately sit on stories are "laughable". Michael White, The Guardian's assistant editor, says bloggers are wrong to think they aren't subject to libel laws. "Of course they are," he says.
Michael, I've said this in every single broadcast interview I've done!
17 comments:
congratualtion old chap. I'm just happy with consistently getting 150 unique visitors a day for now! :) Maybe one day I might match you, my only concern is the possibility I have to dress like Dot Cotton and chain smoke to do it.
What it means Ian is that I am sick of looking at the BBC official line, tied up in knots since Hutton. I always thought the BBC was full of Labour Luvvies, and nothing in the past few months has led me to think otherwise.
I feel for Nick Robinson who is a top journo, who IMHO is stuck with his hands tied behind his back half the time. That's why blogging has taken off. We want the truth now , not when the BBC eventually and with gritted teeth give it to us.
On Sunday, the story about Sir Gulam Noon and the loan to New Labour was everywhere in the papers, but not to be seen on the BBC website.
When I queried why it could not be seen on the BBC website I was told that as soon as someone typed in Sir Gulam Noon on the BBC search engine, it was immediately visible, and therefore was not hidden. This is bullshit of the worst order.
The truth was it was not visible as a headline or sub headline anywhere on the BBC website on Sunday.
I am quite prepared to be corrected on this but I could not find it on Sunday, which is why I am now choosing other sites to find out what is really going on.
Here is the link to the story.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/5161578.stm
Contrary to what's said by the old media, the difference between bloggers and 'professional' journalists is that bloggers aren't breaking the law. When journalists take privileged stories from crown servants (e.g. Ministers) they are breaking the Anti-Corruption Act 1906 by entering into a 'corrupt bargain', namely that they will print favourable stories in return for the information (ie they're taking a BRIBE). THAT's the conspiracy against the people that people like Guido and Iain are going on about.
I'm with Bernard.people want news not party spin or BBC bias.Bit o gossip goes down well too.
It's the informality and independence as well as the interactive side of blogging that distinguishes it from the dead tree brigade who all have big salaries/egos to protect.
Congrats
The lesson I take from these numbers is that the party sites are still far too static, ponderous and carefully-crafted, as compared to the seat-of-the-pants style of yourself and Guido.
ConservativeHome is a bit more agile, but LabourHome has the spontaneity of D-Day, and seems to suffer from some sort of paralysis over how any comment might reflect on the Party - a sort of blogger's version of "does my bum look big in this?"
The best personal blogs display style and wit and character (and inconsistencies and howlers)- the best institutional sites are still written by protocol committees with "Lines" to toe.
Just so long as the ratings don't distract from the point of your blog, congrats.
Bernard from Horsham is quite right..oh and er congratualtions, deservedly.
The BBC is just not reporting the news these days. On Nick Robinson, it is fair to say that it now looks as if ID and Guido are running the news agenda, and since Robinson is no fool, he must be painfully aware of that. Hands tied? He has done his best to point his readers your way. That is how I got here.
However, I can't see any obvious reason for this state of affairs. My only guess is that the fluffy liberals who set the news agenda in our media have somehow gotten themselves tied up in politically correct knots and can no longer figure out whose side they are supposed to be on. Perhaps they have deconstructed themselves!
Personally I feel disenfranchised when it comes to the News. This blog is going a long way to check that. Thanks ID
I'm a big fan of this blog and Guido's, but the problem is you are completely unchecked.
I'm not saying that you do, or that you would - but you are totally free to exaggerate, cut and paste and just lie about stories. Or worse, you could plant 1 made up story for every 9 true ones, thus giving the lies immense credibility.
This doesn't just relate to you of course, but to all blogs.
It could be simply because your blogs are updated more regularly, so people visit more often!
"Personally I feel disenfranchised when it comes to the News. This blog is going a long way to check that. Thanks ID" said "Wrinkled Weasel"
That puts it better than I have. I may be pro Conservative, but I can take bad news if it's even handed with good news. My perception is that more particularly on the BBC website than anywhere else,t bad news for the Tories is posted BANG, but anything that is not good news for New Labour takes ages to appear and is often a sub headline and not the main news story(or never appears).
I am sure many will disagree with me, but I've had enough of BBC News, so here I am, and by the way, I will still read Nick Robinsons blog because it's good!
Congrats - I expect the 'media whoring' has helped.
I'm all in favour of disintermediation, be it media or anything else, so your ability to speak directly to the Nation and elsewhere is all good.
Well done Iain. Long may you and Guido continue.
I know you have a different approach to ConservativeHome and Politicalbetting.com, but have you made any inroads on their readership figures?
I wonder if Guido is pissed off at being named as Paul Staines by every newspaper that mentions him....
Iain, if you carry on growing like this, the whole world will be reading your blog soon :)
How does Iain's blog compare on Hitwise with the Robinson blog? I find Nick Robinson, his blog, and his attitudes on public BBC to be neutered and banal, very very reminiscent of previous "mainstream" BBC and ITN hacks whose job was always to water down, twist and slide the news into the shape the government of the day wanted. It was just as bad with the loathsome Robin Oakley (now cast into the outer darkness at CNN) and the Tories, or that even more dismal Northern Ireland guy who couldn't pronounce anything and is now forgotten. The BBC is and always has been essentially a govt. mouthpiece posing (very skillfully sometimes - other times not so well) as a truly independent voice.
These days I find Sky News is one small place where the voice of the people at least sometimes breaks through; the only really good ones are the blogiverse and Private Eye. No doubt Blair/Prescott/Campbell/Mandelson are at this very moment figuring out how they can crush those. Not that the Tories have ever been, or will be, the least bit different once in office. Iain - don't drop your vigilance and good work if Cameron gets elected - refuse to be co-opted, that's how they get you! No doubt a little ministerial job has been lined up for the likes of you. Any chance of telling the truth then?
The BBC's news website attacts many visitors because it represents one of the few internet news sources that are regularly updated throughout the day. For me however, this is countered by what I perceive as blatant bias when the news doesn't correspond to the corporation's view on the world. As Bernard points out, anything that could be construed as anti-government quickly disappears from their headlines. I have found the site's "Have Your Say" section to be similarly biased. Similarly, the BBC appear to be quite blatantly anti-capitalist. It appaers to me that whenever share prices fall a couple of percentage points the corporation gleefully reports "Stock Markets Plunge" yet the good days are never reported.
BBC is not fit for purpose as an independent broadcaster. It has and will always have a left leaning/pro European bias. Nic R was excellent at ITN. He has one hand tied behind his back. BBC/SKY(Adam Boulton spouts His Masters Voice)can coexist with political blogs - serve different markets.
Well done the two Hitmen, Iain and Guido. But lets not go overboard -avoid at all costs hubristic tendencies.
Well done to you and Guido. It does help your hits that you are popping up on TV every day. I have been reading both of your sites since the beginning...good to see others have the good taste to follow.
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