Tory press officer: Blogs are not important. at Tory Politico

Tory press officer: Blogs are not important.

By Jason Brown | July 29, 2009 | 8:55 pm | Categories: Uncategorized

Over the last 18 months or so the Conservative party has substantially increased the quality of their online presence, from nifty web 2.0 engagement drives to a mass of viral marketing activities. All of this I approve of, but when it comes to their press office engaging with independent, Conservative bloggers they leave a lot to be desired.

Having heard the news that David Cameron had sent a letter to Gordon Brown asking for a clarification of Labour’s position on TV debates, I wanted to read it. So picking up the phone I had a rather painful conversation with said press office.

This is now the conversation went:

Tory Politico: “Hi there I wonder if you can help me. I run the Conservative supporting blog Tory Politico at tory-politico.com, and was wondering if you could send me a copy of the press release that’s just been issued about the letter send from David Cameron to the Prime Minister, seeking clarification on his position regarding TV debates.
Press Officer: “who do you work for?”
TP: “tory-politico.com.”
PO: “so your not a member of the media.”
TP: “No I am a Conservative party member and a blogger.”
PO: “sorry I cant help you.”
TP: “Why not?”
PO: ”Bloggers don’t count as media so I cant send it to you.”
TP: “Right, so you don’t see blogs as important then, is that right?:
PO: “Yes.”
TP: “So what about the likes of Iain dale and ConservativeHome, are they media? are they seen as important?”
PO: “Yes we feel that they are representatives of the media, and yes we do see them as an important conduit?”
TP: “But you just said blogs don’t count as media.”
PO: “We see them as important conservative commentators not bloggers, we feel that independent bloggers do not provide an efficient means of communicating the Conservative message.”
TP: “Not efficient means of communicating the Conservative message – Im a Conservative blogger, all I blog about is politics and the Conservative party, I think that’s evident from my blogs title.”
PO: “Im sorry, but I have already told you that I cannot send you a copy of the press release you asked for.”
TP: “OK, can you add my details to the press release distrobution list so that future releases and notices are sent to me?”
PO: “No.”
TP: “Because bloggs are not important.”
PO: “Yes.”

UpdatePoliticsHome has a copy of the letter here.

10 Responses to 'Tory press officer: Blogs are not important.'

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Crikey, not even willing to add you to an email distribution list? It sounds like the person on the other end of the line (or whoever set the policy that they’re following) is living a decade behind the rest of us.

Mark Pack

29 Jul 09 at 23:56

Hmm. Would it be tactless to point out that if you were an independent Lib Dem blogger you’d probably have been given the chance to interview Nick Clegg by now? Admittedly, sharing time with a fluffy elephant called Millennium, like as not, but even so…

Facebook User

30 Jul 09 at 00:27

[...] yesterday, the Tory Politico blog quite reasonably attempted to get his facts straight before writing a piece regarding the [...]

Tory own goal…….

30 Jul 09 at 09:12

I am not a conservative party member but i do enjoy reading blogs.

Does it not sound like double standards though and I quote from the conversation –

PO: ”Bloggers don’t count as media so I cant send it to you.”
TP: “Right, so you don’t see blogs as important then, is that right?:
PO: “Yes.”

TP: “So what about the likes of Iain dale and ConservativeHome, are they media? are they seen as important?”
PO: “Yes we feel that they are representatives of the media, and yes we do see them as an important conduit?”

TP: “But you just said blogs don’t count as media.”
PO: “We see them as important conservative commentators not bloggers, we feel that independent bloggers do not provide an efficient means of communicating the Conservative message.”

And yet not a couple of lines earlier they said they do not count blogs as media.

Nicola Clubb

30 Jul 09 at 10:32

I’m a freelance writer and I can’t STOP press offices adding me to press release lists.

Some even trawl databases of freelance writers and must add everyone to the list. I guess they think: “This person writes about medical devices – they must be interested in our latest release about flower arranging.”

Tell them you’re a freelance writer. If you’ve had something paid for publication – you don’t even need to lie. A lot of freelance writers do other day jobs.

Vivienne Raper

31 Jul 09 at 06:56

When is a Blogger not a Blogger?…

Isn’t it interesting how the broadening of the communication channel causes gatekeepers of all stripes (in this case, the Tory press office) to tie themselves into knots trying to define who is “media” and who isn’t?Incidentally, I think they’ll l…

One Man and His Blog

4 Feb 10 at 12:53

With respect, this sounds rather like you spoke with someone on a bad day rather than it being a iron Conservative Party press office rule. I don’t have any inside information, but it would be rather peculiar for there to be a strategy not to distribute public information like press releases to independent bloggers.

You may well be right, of course, in taking the press officer’s words at face value. It would be very interesting to know what the strategic assumptions underpinning the exclusion of independent bloggers could be. Or is it plain lack of interest? Do you have any thoughts on this?