I’m quite impressed by the daily SNP-TV video broadcasts being put together by the Scottish National Party. Its presentation is clearly trying to mimic the ‘mainstream’ (national) news channels, with a presenter in the studio, reading her ‘autocue’, and a ticker along the bottom. And I don’t think it handles that inherent contradiction, treating itself as TV (nominally neutral) whilst pushing a particular party position (not at all neutral). A much more conventional approach than, say, Webcameron – but reasonably successful.
I also note that Labour’s Ed Balls has done his own ‘your questions via YouTube’ broadcast: with the sleeves rolled up, and a chatty, cheeky style, it’s just so much better than the staged Tony Blair interview of last week. Perhaps they’re learning. It’s a shame the audio’s slightly out of sync (although nowhere near as bad as this recent John Reid piece). The LibDem video stuff, sadly, is dominated by Ming Campbell, who comes across as a kindly – if somewhat manic – grandad. Patronising rather than engaging, I’m afraid.