One of the findings from my research into agenda-setting and political bloggers in the UK earlier this year was that there is a distinct blurring of the roles between infuential journalists/media and influential bloggers.
To reinforce this, Mark Hanson has blogged about how two top political blogs drove last week's high-profile campaign to unseat a number of corrupt Tory MEPs.
Both Guido Fawkes and Conservative Home were "swapping research, swapping sources, [and] referencing each other" according to Mark.
Two things strike me as interesting and significant here. Firstly, the timeline of this bears hallmarks of previous political blog campaigns - specifically Guido's hounding of the Smith Institute which was closely followed/suported by the Daily Telegraph.
However, in this instance the sharing of material and sources came primarily from online sources - ie. without support from a mainstream publication (although I acknowledge this may have happened covertly).
Secondly - and as Mark points out - this was a Tory/libertarian attack on Tory MEPs. Antony Mayfield suggests it may be "right-wing bloggers cleaning their own house" but equally it suggests two further things:
- a concerted online campaign around a specific issue - significant because the internet allows people to aggregate around single issues, something traditional political party structures are unable to foster
- these single issue campaigns and campaigners are becoming more and more powerful. So potentially powerful in fact that parties ought to be extremely wary of their disruptive force in the future.
This campaign is fascinating because it is a 'ritual cleansing' (to adapt Antony's idea) of the Tory party in Europe - but one conducted by those on the periphery of the party and even beyond (as Antony Mayfield points out: "Guido Fawkes is *not* a Tory").
Traditional political party structures are becoming increasingly redundant and threatened by highly influential and super connected individuals driven by single issues. If was in charge of the Tories, Labour or the Lib Dems I would be investing heavily in understanding the major changes the internet is having not just on communications but on an organisational level as well.
*UPDATED* Political consultant and blogger Tim Pendry gives his very expert analysis on what this online encounter means for the UK's wider political scene.
Technorati tags: Politics, Guido Fawkes, Conservative Home, Mark Hanson
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