Media Presence

On Radio Jersey today, Professor Adrian Lee of Plymouth University was commenting on the rise of the expansion in local blogs (as in the UK), and questioning whether the number of hits actually represented the popularity of the blog.

I use two - Blogpatrol and Statcounter.

Blogpatrol records the number of "hits" on the site, but some of these can be historic. If someone has a link to your site, that seems to be also reflected in the blogpatrol statistics, so while it is a reflection of popularity - after all, why would someone link to you if they had not read your blog - as a real-time statistic it is going to increase over time. This is why the site Holiday in the Sun noted with some astonishment that his older blog was still getting more hits than his new one!

That is not to say that Blogpatrol cannot be useful. If you log in and look at the detailed information, this can be broken down on a day by day basis, so gives a better reflection that mere "hits", although I notice that if people have permanent links to your blog, of the kind that grab a snapshot of the blog, these are reflected in the "hits".

The Statcounter that I use shows only visitors not hits, and so is quite a lot lower. Then again, if people have a snapshot, or have signed up to get any postings automatically this will not be reflected, so the Statcounter is likely to be lower than it should be. But it is nevertheless more accurate than Blogpatrol in this respect, and has the additional advantage that it can be set up so that anyone can see the details on a day by day basis, so that it is open and transparent to others.

Regarding the effect the blog has on the political landscape, I would say probably about as much - and as little - as a hustings meeting. Blogs have their supporters, who often give a misleading account of popularity.

 

Likewise, political hustings often give the prospective candidate a false impression, because they may reflect more support for the candidate than is really the case, and indeed after the last elections, I have been struck by the comments made such as "but there was a good response from the hustings" almost in disbelief as results came in. Yet it is hardly surprising, because who is going to attend a hustings, particularly on a cold and wet winter evening? Surely the candidates most fervent supporters, and he or she may also glean support from other supporters who are voting for another candidate who has similar manifesto ideas, hence the likelihood is that the hustings represent activists rather than the bulk of the voters, who will often vote quite differently. The real purpose of the hustings is to get your face shown and known, and show how well you perform compared to other candidates when written up (in a summary form) in the media.

In cases like the Senatorial elections, the hustings probably had less immediate effect than a blog, because of the number of candidates, but in the longer term, the benefits of this - and posters, interviews, leaflets - raised the candidates profile so that they were not so much of an "unknown" when it came to the Deputies elections - although this is not an absolute guarantee of success - Nick Palmer and Cliff le Clerq both failed to be elected there.

In passing, I would note that Parish Assemblies, insofar as they resemble hustings, are often not good ways to represent the popular vote. Like hustings, they bring out the regular activists in the Parish, and it has not been unknown for a Parish Assembly of possibly ten or less to elect a Constables Officer, Procurer or Centenier, which when one considers the population of a Parish, seems very a very poor kind of representative democracy. Another deficiency is that they can be hijacked by lobby groups or commercial enterprises, who can "pack" the assembly with their supporters, and thereby secure a vote on matters which may effect hundreds or thousands of Parishioners. At least now some extra elections, such as those for Procurer, are beginning to have proper voting during the day and early evening, rather than just at an assembly, and I myself availed myself of this to vote in St Brelade.

Speaking of Procurers, I would just like to finish by noting that the other kind of media presence is making an impact, that of the poison pen writer. The recent campaign of hate against John Germain is quite horrific, and this kind of activism - unlike blogs - runs counter to democracy and debate. He has received abusive phone calls and post, and had his house sprayed with cream. This is a kind of activism the Island could do without, and I can only hope the culprit is caught.

http://www.thisisjersey.com/2009/01/05/abusive-calls-force-former-constable-out/