Andreas Haugstrup Pedersen | solitude.dk

So it is surprising that the media-aware Labour Party has not made a move to reign in this new media, in fact it has studiously ignored or remained rather ignorant of its possibilities. Instead, the old-fashioned stodgy British Conservative party seems to have jumped on the new media bandwagon and actively leapfrogged the old media approach of Labour. Moving straight into the new media world of Internet video diaries, or videoblogs, Web 2.0 and grassroots narrowcasting. In fact it is telling to what extent Labour have missed the entire new media juggernaut ? the blogging community, for example, being decidedly off-message.

Trine and David Berry wrote an article on the Conservative leader David Cameron's use of web video. I missed it last month when it was published online. It's a nice run down of communication in British politics in a bite-sized format and it is all the more relevant considering Blair's resignation today.

The article poses some good questions that can bear deeper research. I'm hoping someone picks up where Trine leaves off. What caught my eye was the concept of authenticity. As the article points out Cameron creates authenticity (and there's no doubt it's orchestrated) through the use of hand-held camera, rouch edits and a lack of titles sequences, music or credits (example).

What is fascinating is the trend among videobloggers where authenticity is sought after using the complete opposite strategy (High Definition recordings, professional lighting equipment, fancy title sequences and credits with titles like ‘Director” and so on). If nothing else it is amusing that Cameron is trying to mimic the genre that a large group of videobloggers is trying to eliminate by themselves mimicking the television genre. It does pose additional questions regarding the motivations for seeking one strategy or the other among politicians and videobloggers alike.

Why does the politician think he needs to mimic YouTube videos to seem authentic? Maybe easy to guess. Why do the videoblogger think he needs to mimic the production values of a television broadcast to gain the same authenticity? Maybe not so easy to guess.