Keeping the bastards honest
Communications Minister Helen Coonan gave a very interesting Andrew Olle Lecture in Sydney on Friday.
She spoke at length about the internet and its impact on politics and politicians, especially YouTube.
Coonan said that the margin of error for politicians was growing ever slimmer, with YouTube being the easiest place to find footage of pollies doing dumb stuff.
As we all know YouTube was practically an alternative media channel during the recent US elections.
In true political style Coonan described YouTube as, “The dumping ground for negative political adverts deemed too tasteless for TV – A convenient bypass of regulated platforms.”
I can’t help thinking that the rise of YouTube and comments like Coonan’s would have had the late Don Chipp smiling.
He was after all the politician who founded a party whose manifesto was to “Keep the bastards honest.’
And what better way to keep them honest than by giving every single person in the country the chance to post videos of them doing what they shouldn’t be doing.
posted by Stan Lee at 12:14 am
2 Comments:
I actually hadn't thought of that... but especially in countries like the US and Australia (well, anywhere really), where televised political adverts have to be moderated in some way, YouTube provides an enticing alternative to run far more slanderous/hard-hitting campaigns.
As YouTube overtakes television as a one-stop source for media and reporting, a likely scenario given the perception of it as "free" and unregulated, the potential for lucrative politics is ever present.
perhaps this will pave the way for politicians to act more like us humans.
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