When Politics, Media and Business collide

I heard a fascinating interview with Lord Mandelson, the British Government's Business Secretary this morning, on Radio 4's Today programme.

In the interview Lord Mandelson claimed the Sun newspaper, owned by Rupert Murdoch's News International, is collaborating with the Conservative party to undermine the incumbent Labour Party administration. In return, he suggested, News International had promised some sort of kickback should the Conservatives win the election.

Lord Mandelson also claimed that coverage of anti-government stories in the Sun would be covered on TV by Sky News, also part of the Murdoch stable. Then, perhaps bizarrely, he claimed this would force the BBC to cover biased stories, which in turn would threaten its impartiality.

It was a remarkable allegation for a senior politician to make, and there's more coverage of this and subsequent comments Lord Mandelson made in an article from The Guardian Online. You can read more here.

As we get closer to a general election in the UK, the rate at which mud is slung is bound to increase. Today's salvo is interesting because it's a timely reminder that despite falling circulation figures and savage cuts, the power of the printed word still has clout and can't be discounted.

Can Gordon do it? Yes he can! Maybe.....

Ok, so I'll provide an addendum to my last post.

It's been a while since I checked out the Number 10 website, and since I was linking to it in my last post it seemed prudent (to use one of our Prime Minister's favourite fiscal words - currently devalued) to have a look-see, before I pointed to it in my tags.

Well, what a surprise and treat was waiting for me. The PM has been You Tubed and since April of last year has had his own You Tube channel. How many hits has this bastion of open democracy in the media age received in the intervening 19 months? Just over 600,000. This isn't impressive, given the rapidly rising numbers of people connected to the Web via broadband.

However, I am encouraged by the fact the PM is now inviting video responses to this week's topic - the economy. He'll then respond to any entries. 

I feel a sixth form homework bubbling away. 'Class, go away and make a short video clip for the Prime Minister. Ask him about your concerns as young people getting ready to enter higher education, where you will have to pay through the nose, so that you can hopefully gain employment in a shrinking global economy.' 

Maybe this time the PM will get back to us. That would be nice....