Blog Relations

David Cameron, the marketing lizzard who has taken over Britain’s once great Conservative Party, has made a Party Political Podcast for The Daily Telegraph. I listened to the first minute of his speech – which was pretty brave of me – but that really was as much as I could stand.

The Telegraph tried to bill the podcast “exclusive” as an exciting development, but you have to look to France to see how it should be done. Just before Christmas, Nicolas Sarkozy, the controversial interior minister, gave an interview (not a speech) to one of France’s top bloggers, Loic Le Meur. He had to answer criticism about the way he handled the recent riots, and he accepted an offer to officially announce his candidature to the Presidency in 2007 on Loic’s blog.

That’s how seriously the French take podcasting and blogs. Over here in the UK, a podcast is just a soft option for a politico. I’m amazed that the Telegraph let Cameron get away with giving a talk without an interviewer to challenge him. It sets a bad precedent for podcast quality, and a sinister one for democracy. Shame on you Telegraph!