Yesterday, the SKWAWKBOX was discussed in a Buzzfeed article about the rise, popularity and impact of the independent Left media (or ‘alt-left’ as the author, Jim Waterson, described it).
This morning, the blog was mentioned on the BBC’s flagship Sunday morning programme, The Marr Show, as Waterson and others discussed the ‘parallel election campaign’ that’s going on via social media.
Of course, Marr and the others were quick to write the phenomenon off as an ‘echo chamber’, but – well, they would, wouldn’t they.
The crucial thing – which was discussed with Waterson during the interview with him but didn’t make it into the article – is ‘overspill’. Of course the blog has regular readers and we appreciate them hugely – but when anyone shares a SKWAWKBOX (or Evolve, Angry Voice, Vox Political, Canary etc) article, that post is seen by friends, family and acquaintances who might not be Labour supporters or even have taken much of an interest in politics.
When an article goes ‘viral’, the overspill impact can be huge and independent Left sites can influence the news agenda – like this morning – and therefore public opinion. What’s more, we also influence the behaviour of politicians – especially in preventing those who want to damage Labour or disrespect its members. As the Buzzfeed article says:
One anti-Corbyn Labour aide told BuzzFeed News many of the party’s MPs now felt unable to place stories or comment pieces in The Sun or the Daily Mail – where they could potentially reach floating voters – because sites such as The Canary and newcomers such as Skwawkbox will immediately launch a series of attack pieces on the politician for cooperating with enemy media, which then causes trouble with activists at a community level.
Which is just as it should be, when you consider the agenda and history of that kind of publication – and the content of the ‘comment pieces’ that are designed to talk down Labour’s leadership and electability, ‘reaching floating voters’ in an extremely damaging way.
So please keep sharing articles from this blog and others – together, we’re having an impact. If you want to see the whole discussion, it’s available on BBC iPlayer, starting about 11 minutes in.
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More ‘fake news’ from the Observer: underneath the photo of JC the caption claims that Labour lost ‘swathes of council seats’ in the city. The Observer appears now to believe that JC can actually lose votes even where there has been no election! If they meant Leicestershire County (where there was an election) there aren’t ‘swathes’ of Labour seats to actually lose – the county, unlike the city, is solidly Tory. (This is from the electronic version of the Observer, it may be different in the print version, which I haven’t been able to see).
More hard left policies being espoused by the far left writers of the alt-left. Again. When will you stop leaving bombs, killing civilians & establishing gulags. Only when you are able to do that & support nuclear Armageddon will you be taken seriously.
Reblogged this on Perfectlyfadeddelusions.
Echoes are powerful things. That’s why cathedrals – the biggest echo chambers in the world – get built.
Thank you, as ever, for making the little voices stronger.
Marr’s pompous comments at the end are revealing. “This allows people with no media background particularly…”
Man on the Clapham Omnibus: “Excuse me Andrew, are you referring to intelligent people who are not deluded, overpaid, public school then Oxbridge educated, groupthink, corporate mediocrities like yourself?”
Marr: “Erm, why don’t we go over to Isabel Oakeshott for some independent analysis.”
Recommended viewing – Chomsky destroys Marr: