Friday 1 July 2016

Tidying up tweets, call for politeness, Buzzfeed plug

Busy weekend, mostly holiday next week so this post is note form sometimes. More below on social media / mainstream media and why you should keep looking at Buzzfeed.

Tweets at the end of this week have often been about heckles and BBC reporting. Portland Communications often mentioned, just do a search. It seems well established that the first heckler is connected to Portland Communications. No contrary claims as tweets but no reporting in mainstream media. Second heckle could have been a Lib Dem. The BBC is happy to report the heckle, could there be some fact checking on the tweet claims?



No further discussion I can find on the truth of what sort of campaign Corbyn had during the EU referendum. the BBC did not allow Diane Abbott time to refute the attack but it is so often repeated without question that one might think the actual record will be checked at some time.

Also I got the impression listening to Margaret Beckett that many senior Labour people were involved in the various Remain organisations. How was it decided who did what? Lord Darling sharing a platform for example. See previous posts, just expanding a bit on a tweet. I think there should be more care to consider what actually happened before just claiming that Corbyn is to blame.

By the way even the Sun praised him for honesty is saying that freedom of movement was a condition for access to the market. Despite the various poses that something else can be negotiated this may turn out to be a position that stands the test of time. Beckett may think that integrity is not enough, but it should be part of the mix.

Other tweets mention Iraq, Chilcot next week, and background on Maria Eagle website. Apparently this was set up before the announced dates for what is known in shorthand on some tweets as #coup but Eagle had no idea it was happening. My guess is that Chilcot has something to do with it. Plan A may have been that Corbyn should resign before Chilcot is published. The closer it gets to Wednesday the more likley it is that Eagle will have to deal with some Iraq related issues. So whoever it is organising this situation may have to consider another front to the leadership.

The guess that this is run by a PR company gains strength because all the quotes in the papers are anonymous. Somehow a story gets into the Observer and the Sunday Times but Benn has no idea how it got there. Somehow a website is set up. Anyway I am sure the facts about Portland Communications will become clear. Chilcot will be mentioned in the Sunday newspapers , one supposes, and the consequences for the Labour Party.

Meanwhile on Mainstream Media

I am getting worried about the tone of some printed comments when the Guardian refers to social media. Gaby Hinsliff only has space for the downside when writing about Twitter.

Yeah, but Corbynites get abused on social media too! 

There is rarely any reference to anything positive that may come from tweets. Sorry, not enough time to go into detail, more later.

As in previous posts and other blogs and various txt to the @Guardian over the last decade or so the drift has been from smashing Guardian Unlimited Talk to Comment Is Free and more or less open to concentrating on staff celebs to rubbishing social media outside the protected space. Again sorry not enough time to put in all the quotes here but at least this is more clear than a tweet.

Warning for Labour MPs and others caught up in this. Just my opinion. Print media is facing a bit of a crunch. They may be tempted to rubbish social media if they think their online efforts are not working. (The print pose is not that helpful for online culture) MPs can go to Twitter and YouTube directly and then respond to the comments, the politeness thing is encouraged by some feeling of connection ( best way of keeping the language on track imho )

(If they stay voting in secret and leave the Sunday Times to speak for them on Sky News they may get the occasional heckle when they do surface, just a guess )

Story re written yet again

Post Boris a look at the Times and Telegraph reveals that the EU Referendum was about immigration after all. The Boris article on Monday got it all wrong. So the first part of this blog is very much a rough guide and the central part of the book will now have even more versions. Book may take some time, summer break coming up so even this blog will have gaps.

Buzzfeed is on the case

Something I notice is that a) Jim Waterson is diligent in tweeting links to stories b) the stories in the Canary are well sourced. Jim Waterson is on Twitter @jimwaterson  and edits UK politics for Buzzfeed.

Suggestion, check this for links during next week. I may or may not be posting, depending on holidays etc.


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PS final check shows the New Statesman has got a report on the Portland Communications story but assures us that the story in the Canary "is not true". I cannot find any fact check of the claim that the first heckle was from someone linked to Portland. It is the sort of thing that makes one wary. The News Statesman has the clout to ask the BBC how many heckles have made it to the main news in the past three months. My guess is two, both of Jeremy Corbyn. I am open to any explanation.

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