DA Starts "Inside Politics" Stealth Blog 8

Posted by Farrel Sun, 04 Mar 2007 20:10:00 GMT

If you had to look at the front page of Inside Politics you’d think you were looking at a normal blog about SA politics, albeit one that looks like it was designed in 1998 and with no RSS feed or coments (although I must say their series on Chapter 9 Institutions is enlightening). What you won’t see straight away is that it’s run by the Democratic Alliance. From the whois page at www.org.za:

INSIDEPOLITICS_1164624537_ORGZA  (insidepolitics.org.za)
Democratic Alliance
P O Box 1475, Cape Town, 8000

Now I’m all for political parties using the internet to get their message out but I think in this case there needs to be some transparency. And RSS feeds.

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  1. gv Mon, 05 Mar 2007 00:00:59 GMT

    Which reminds me of this

  2. Lowkey Mon, 05 Mar 2007 05:35:37 GMT

    Funny that the blog is prominently featured on the DA’s home page then?

  3. Farrel Mon, 05 Mar 2007 06:59:22 GMT

    Sure they link to it with a nice big button but they don’t say it’s theirs. All the other websites they link to are specifically mentioned as being part of the DA (”...the DA’s crine blog…”,”...the DA’s wesbite for the agricultural community…”). I link to Business Day from my page but that doesn’t mean I run it.

    That being said if you had to just go to the Inside Politics front page first, there’s no indication exactly who runs it. Even the ‘About’ page is devoid of any information.

  4. Gareth van Onselen Mon, 05 Mar 2007 08:13:12 GMT

    Dear Politics.za

    A few points in response to your story on InsidePolitics.

    First, the blog is run by the DA and I am the editor-in-chief. Second, InsidePolitics was started in December last year and has been been running for some three months now, so it is not a new initiative, as your blog implies.

    Third, when InsidePolitics was launched, the DA put out a press statement announcing that it had established the site. Twice a week, for every week since, the DA puts out a statement with the main stories from the site to the press. It is completely open about the fact that it runs the site, in fact, it actively advertises the site to the press.

    Fourth, although InsidePolitics is run by the DA, the views it carries are not necessarily those of the DA – as the disclaimer at the bottom of each story posted points out – it is, after all, a blog – designed to generate debate. The DA uses press statements to get its party political position across to the media and public.

    And, fifth, as your own story proves – in rather self-defeating fashion – it is very easy to determine who owns and runs the site.

    With regard to your comments about the sites’ appearance, InsidePolitics concerns itself primarily with content, we presume our readers – of which we have a significant number – do to. Should you or any one of your readers have any further questions about the site, please do not hesitate to contact me.

    Sincerely,

    Gareth van Onselen DA Director of Media and Research

  5. Mike Mon, 05 Mar 2007 08:59:03 GMT

    @Dear Gareth van Onselen,

    Feeds (or the lack thereof) are precisely about content and making it more accesible and digestible; nothing to do with appearance. Wake up: its the 21st century, now.

    Oh. But that’s the DA we’re talking to, isn’t it….

  6. gv Mon, 05 Mar 2007 09:43:24 GMT

    Gareth – Your arguments are not convincing. If it is run by the DA, at least the About page should say it.

  7. Frank Shearar Mon, 05 Mar 2007 14:22:17 GMT

    Geez, aren’t we all getting a bit hot under the collar for no apparent reason? Do you suppose that if I write a blog I should put a big banner across it “this site run by $myEmployer”? It’s a blog with content written by DA members, not by the DA, even if they set up and host the service and own the domain.

    (But yes, they should have an RSS feed.)

  8. Trumpi Tue, 06 Mar 2007 14:39:59 GMT

    Did I detect a bit of DA tone in Gareth’s response? I do hope that they abandon that sort of tone because it is not doing them any favours.

    The comment about RSS feeds is a very valid one—I cannot subscribe to the blog at the moment because of lack of RSS feeds. (Although I haven’t checked in two weeks, so maybe it is there already.)

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