Political Commentariat in Group Circle Jerk

A few weeks ago I wrote a post listing the Top Ten Political Columnists in British according to an Editorial Intelligence poll . They have just sent me a booklet called THE POWER OF THE COMMENTARIAT which contains a whole host of nuggets, including a Top Ten (you know how I love them) Political Blogs - i.e. those who the Commentariat deem to be most influential on British public policy and public opinion. Here is the list in all its glory...

1. Nick Robinson
2. Robert Peston
3. Guido Fawkes
4. Comment is Free
5. Comment Central
6. Iain Dale
6. Boulton & Co (joint)
8. Red Box
9. Roy Greenslade
10. Ben Brogan
11. Brassneck

Yes, I know that's 11 - it's because they put Boulton & Co and me joint 6th. As I am included in the list I am slightly reluctant to comment on it. So I leave it to you, dear reader! Be gentle now. the only thing I will say, though, is how on earth this list includes Roy Greenslade but not ConservativeHome or PoliticalBetting defies any amount of logic.

I will read the full report and may post again on it, as it really does look rather interesting. The one thing which the report immediately provokes me into asking, is just who the Commentariat influences apart from its own members? How many 'normal' people are influenced by newspaper leader columns or indeed blogs? Do we all not feed each other in some amorphous way rather than be a crucial individual influence on a particular debate? The role of an individual commentator (and I include bloggers in this sweeping generalisation) seems often to be to try to influence the herd, by which I mean the herd of commentators rather than those who wield power. I have lost count of the time I have heard a commentator noting with pride the fact that a fellow commentator had agreed with their wise words of wisdom in a recent column - ergo they must be right. So when I use the rather crude term 'circle jerk' I do it knowingly. Much of the commentariat is a giant self preening society to which I admit I am, on occasion, not immune myself!

PS You can download half (yes, half!) the report HERE. Sadly, if you weren't lucky enough to read a free copy, you will have to fork out £20 to read the 44 pages. And before anyone points out that Total Politics will also have a cover price (a mere £3.99 for 64 glorious technicolour pages, since you ask) if you're not an elected politician, the entire content will be free on the website!

A View of the 24 Hour Media: Cynical or True?

A friend of mine, Paul Osborn, made a telling point today at a lunch I was attending in Washington. He was speaking at a pro-war rally in Washington some time ago and said...

The 24 hour news media seem keener to report failure over success. Every
challenge is insurmountable, every obstacle is too great too overcome. They
prefer to report on people who hate their country rather then those who love
their country. I can’t help but wonder if the Second World War was fought under
these circumstances whether we’d have won. Winston Churchill would have had to
say: “We shall fight them in the focus groups. We shall fight them in the opinion
polls. We shall never surrender unless our approval rating drops below
30%.”

Discuss.

When an Exclusive is Not Quite What it Seems

Sky and News 24 and the Sundays are full of the Francis Elliott/James Hanning "revelations" about David Cameron's schooldays. Big deal. He handled the issue very well during the leadership contest and I expect him to do so again.

The amusing part of this story is how the Mail on Sunday have a so-called EXCLUSIVE from two journalists from the Independent on Sunday. Money talks, eh? Although the Indy have also run it as an exclusive (so, laughably, has the News of the World) they really need to buck up on their own PR. Apparently they rang News 24 this evening to complain about them saying it was a Mail on Sunday story on their bulletins. The BBC replied that if the Indy had bothered to tell them it was their story in the first place it would never have happened. Elementary PR, you'd have thought.

Several journalists are querying now what exactly the Conservative policy on soft drugs is. I suspect it will remain whatever David Davis says it is. Period.