British conservative leader's blog

David Cameron, MP for West Oxfordshire and leader of the British Conservative Party is blogging in India.

From the blog:

"India matters so much in the modern world.

It's the largest democracy on the planet, its economy is growing fast, and India is an incredibly diverse society with people of many cultures and religions living together...for example, India has the world’s second largest Muslim population. People are free to be Indian and Muslim, or Indian and Sikh, or Indian and Hindu, without any contradiction.

We in Britain should be especially interested in the huge changes going on in India. We share so many ties, particularly the many people of Indian origin who live in Britain and make an enormous contribution to it."

I wonder if New Media can overthrow New Labour?

Comments

[Ravi]

I don't get it. What is New Media?

[Ro]

Hi Ravi,

Wiki's definition of New Media (from en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_media):

"New media usually refers to a group of relatively recent mass media based on new information technology. Most frequently the label would be understood to include the Internet and World Wide Web, video games and interactive media, CD-ROM and other forms of multimedia popular from the 1990s on. The phrase came to prominence in the 1990s, and is often used by technology writers like those at Wired magazine and by scholars in media studies."

When I said "I wonder if New Media can overthrow New Labour?" I was suggesting that David Cameron's ability to 'get with the people' by blogging is likely to help him gain popularity with potential voters that Labour doesn't reach, as Labour politicians don't generally use New Media like blogs.

The traditional approach politicians have taken with their campaigns has obviously been to sway public opinion via traditional media; TV, press releases etc. As the power shifts into New Media, I think initiatives such as David's India Trip blog will be increasingly important.

Having said that, since I wrote the post, I've discovered Tony Blair's attempt at a blog. See http://www.labour.org.uk/tonyblair2 This basically negates the point I just made. They're obviously all at it.

Although, I have to say, while I'm no authority on politics, I certainly prefer David's blog.

What do you think?

[Ravi]

That makes sense. I thought you were referring to a new political party or something like that. I think most forward thinking leaders are now blogging, including president Ahmadinejad of Iran. George Bush doesn't seem to have caught on yet though.