It's A Doug's Life.: Blog Breakdown 2 -Political Blogs

Well from what I've seen so far, political blogs aren't even nearly as popular as their gadgety and gossipy counterparts. Whether this suggests something about the interests of internet users into politics being less than their interest in consumer goods and the obsession with celebrity I don't know...but it seems likely. Considering those who read blogs do so on some form of computer, it seems fair that they would be interested in the latest on newer technology, whereas finding out what gaffe Gordon Brown has made this week (i.e. lots) must just bother them less. No matter, there is obviously still some demand for political blogs amongst those who do care about the state of the nations and their leaders, otherwise I wouldn't be writing this, would I?

Today I'm gonna focus on The Times Online's political blog, 'Red Box', and compare it with several other UK politics blogs, namely:

What I noticed whilst searching for these blogs was a) A lot of them are blogs run by well known names in media (i.e. BBC, The Times, The Guardian), but also that the bloggers themselves are actual journalists. Nick Robinson is one of the BBC's most prominent political correspondants, appearing on TV almost daily.

Starting with the history, the blog is part of the central-right wing newspaper The Times, and is contained within the 'Comment' section of their website. The Times first started in 1785, making it one of the oldest newspapers in the world, however their blogs have only existed for a few years now, obviously being non-essential to the main business of reporting news.

Starting with the layout of the Red Box blog it appears to be standard of all blogs, with the thin column for posts, with other features and adverts down the side (in this case, the right). The adverts have obviously been more strictly controlled than those found in most blogs - no doubt due to the blog being part of The Times and its more mature audience. There is also a thin column dedicated to navigation of the blogs and website, with links to the latest posts on the blog, and others to the other features of the website ('From the papers', 'From the Times Online', 'More of Our Blogs', etc). It's pretty effective, and can get you round the most important parts of the site with ease. The style of the blogs written by the editor (Sam Coates) is slightly smarter and formal than most blogs, avoiding any 'leet' or instant messenger acronyms, but still feeling like a personal report. There is less of an emphasis on pictures for the blog entries, but this isn't too surprising when you think the blogs are covering actions rather than physical appearances (besides, there's only so much Brown most people can stomach on one page).

As for its competition, the big two would be Nick Robinson's BBC Newslog and The Guardian's Blogs, as I said before both parts of larger media agencies. Interestingly Nick actually writes political columns for The Times, which would suggest a similar political orientation for his blog. The Guardian on the other hand is proudly left-wing, so the posts are pretty conflicting.

Nick's blog has virtually no pictures in the posts, making it look much less user friendly, and suggesting it is designed to inform those in the know rather than to entertain them. It comes across as critcal, but also central - calling up politicians from both sides of the political spectrum. However it is very obviously the 'Making Of' part of the DVD, with regards it just being complimentary to Robinson's already busy timetable reporting on television and writing newspaper articles.

The Guardian on the whole is very well presented and planned, perhaps the best of the lot in this respect. It has multiple journalists posting on the political blog, often meaning more news and news more often. There are about as many photos as the Red Box, although the pages themselves feel more sparsely populated with content, not neccessarily a bad thing. My only issue with The Guardian is that it's posts, indeed it's entire philosophy, is so ball-achingly biased to the left wing that it is impossible to get through more than a few posts before you end up in an incandescent rage. Ah well, I suppose that's what the comment box is for...

I know the content of a blog doesnt really change how good it is as a blog, and any left-wing internet surfers are going to enjoy it a lot more than the predominantly central/right blogs out there...however this is my review and I find their bias unacceptable for a news website...It also gives a nice insight into the irrationality of some of the reporters. It looks nice, but forget it - stick with the others. If you must read a left-wing blog, read Harry's.

There are a few small independant blogs that also warrant being written about in this breakdown, the three mentioned above being my choice (because they all appear on the first page of a Google search for 'political blog').

Starting off with the Guido Fawkes blog, written by Paul Staines and created in late 2004. This is one of the few political blogs I came across designed with the intention of being entertaining instead of purely informative. It is satirical, and presently filled with dozens of cheap attacks at all three UK party leaders, not to mention their parties. The layout is good with the thin reporting column alongside a second colum filled with advertisements relative to the blog (i.e. politicians autobiographies, satirical books and blog-related gadgets like the Sony Reader). If you don't use a blog to get your news, then this is the political blog of choice...in the UK anyway...

I can't really find much to say about Iain Dale's blog. It's been created using blogspot (pro, I would assume), looks nice...but there's nothing to really endear it to any one in any real way...I suppose it is neutral, which is nice...but that's about it. There's a lot of mention of the Lib Dems, also no stranger to being ignored by the general populus...maybe Iain should look a bit closer at who he follows =D

Harry's Place, the last of my mentioned sites, is also one of the only 'democratic-left' blogs I found (i.e. left of centre, but not so far out it slaps you in the face a la Guardian) . It looks professional, aside from it's name (perhaps Harry should consider a more formal name for the site), and covers political news in both the UK and US (from a UK perspective). The site was founded in 2002, and has about 6 authors. The content of the blogs is good, the writing style informal enough to keep the reader involved whilst still informing them of the story. I found myself questioning the fairness of some of the blogs, but as I mentioned before, that shouldn't come into this review of the blogs themselves.

Right, that was boring to write about. Tomorrow - Gossip Blogs.

And a headache.

But first I'll leave you with this gem...