Online Journalism Blog

This is a Guest Article from political blogger Anna Raccoon about questionable Election reporting by the Sutton and Cheam Guardian , where all the candidates but one received objective biographies; it’s also a case study of one way that bloggers can hold journalists to account, and how the media is becoming more permeable.

For me, the more cross-scrutiny we get between journalists and bloggers, the better it will be for our media. It first appeared on Anna’s blog. I’ll be pleased to run a reply from the Sutton and Cheam Guardian; I think it needs one.

The interesting points of this story is that one candidate was included with a joke biography in a survey of all candidates, that the audit trail seems to show conclusively that the newspaper had a full biography available – having used the photo which was attached to the same email, and that the journalist concerned has been shown to be a supporter of the candidate who would probably benefit most from damage to the Libertarian Party candidate.

(Disclosure: Anna is a member of the Libertarian Party, whose candidate received the satirical biography.)

I’ve been watching local papers for coverage of candidates standing for election on May 6^th.. Eventually I arrived at the Sutton and Cheam Guardian which is part of the South London Guardian and Surry Comet group.

They had a two page spread in their paper edition, containing 8 potted biographies with photographs of the likely local candidates in Paul Burstow’s constituency.

As you might imagine since he has been the MP for the area since 1997, Paul Burstow’s biography appeared first.

The usual blub; a quote to establish his political views, a run down of his successes and failures as an MP, and an allusion to his hobbies including his ability to beget children with someone he was legally married to.

In general, the type of information you would expect from your local paper to help you to make an informed choice in the voting booth.

This was followed by a similar piece on the Green candidate, Peter Hickson; the BNP candidate John Clarke; and the Labour candidate Kathy Allen. All four had been asked to provide a biography detailing their education and general good works, and this had been padded out in some cases by information trawled from the newspaper library or Internet.

Next up was Martin Cullip, a candidate for the Libertarian Party. As a fellow member of the Libertarian party I was interested to learn of his views.

Martin’s ‘biography’ was unusual to say the least. It gave no personal details nor quoted any political beliefs, in fact it appeared to be positively frivolous.