Comments on: Radio National Media Report looks at blogging &(un)civil discourse

By: Tanner matches words with action (through more words) - Andrew Bartlett

Tanner matches words with action (through more words) - Andrew Bartlett — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 13:20:26 +0000

...] A couple of weeks ago I mentioned Finance Minister Lindsay Tanner was “in the early stages of organising a trial government blog. The purpose of the experiment will be to explore the possibilities for government participation in blogging.” [...

By: Jason Wilson

Jason Wilson — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 06:12:57 +0000

It struck me that the Paul Keating/Janet Albrechtsen stoush earlier this year had many of the hallmarks of a blogwar.

Anyway… in the absence of the podcast, can I ask what your recommendations for bringing about more civil discourse were, Andrew?

It seems to me that (a) it’s very difficult, and (b) there may, in any case, be room for some deliberately “snarky” blogs, if only for the purposes of entertainment.

By: Thomas Paine

Thomas Paine — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 02:19:49 +0000

A policiticians comments on a blog would become and remain a permanent source for media and opposition use and abuse. Thus the comments that could be made would undoubtedly be sterile, heavily qualified and non-contorversial. Thus the conversation would be inane.

Apart from that the politicians blog would become an echo of their daily arguments and spin as issues come and go.

Ex pollies would be much better. How about a Paul Keating, Bob Hawke, Tim Fisher, Peter Reith, John Howard blogging exercise. That would generate enough traffic to shut down the net.

By: Paul Tero

Paul Tero — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 01:55:51 +0000

Andrew,

Keep up the good work.

Eventually the blogging will become more mainstream (ie, RSS feeds to mobiles and the ability to blog from 3G-style phones).

Where George is good (and Samantha Maiden, and the late Matt Price for that matter), is that he responds. Its a dialogue with those in positions of “political” influence.

Regards,

Paul