 
David Miliband MP Ministerial Blog
Method(s) Used
Name of person who posted the project:Laura Miller
Location of project:United Kingdom
Date when the project started:2006
Date when the project ended/project ongoing:2006
Background to project:The blog was started at the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (ODPM), now Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG), in December 2005.The blog was transferred to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) when David Miliband became minister there in May 2006. Content in the blog reflects David Miliband�s ministerial responsibilities, interests, research, visits, as well as reactions to developments outwith the department. The blog format allows the Minister to personally publish on departmental and ministerial matters without the conventional intermediation that is associated with government communications. It also allows readers to comment on the author�s posts, thus allowing for quick and direct dialogue between a government minister and the public. Purpose of project:Though the blog is authored by David Miliband in his capacity as a government minister, it was also set up to serve the department with a channel to communicate and interact with the public and the department�s stakeholders. Therefore, the blog has come to combine policy, positioning and consultation purposes.The Hansard Society was asked to evaluate the blog, exploring whether it increased political efficacy and public trust. Project activities:Whilst blogging at the ODPM, the blog posts were divided into the following categories:
Once transferred to Defra, the following categories were created:
Project results:Strengths
Potential for improvement
David Miliband�s blog was a genuine attempt to launch and sustain a blog authored by a government minister. It was the first of its kind and has to date performed well. It has the necessary technical features of a blog; its content was authored by the Minister himself, updated regularly, and members of the public were encouraged to comment on the Minister�s posts. However, the blog has had a rocky reception. Some of the criticism is confusing. As blogging began to emerge as a communications tool in British politics in 2003, many of its early promoters urged politicians to blog in order to bring themselves more directly and frequently into contact with the public. Yet Miliband has been reproached for his attempt. As blogging has become more entrenched as a tool for citizens to get a foothold in political debate, it seems that the tide of calls for senior political figures to blog has turned. That a major member of the Cabinet began to blog was perhaps too much of an affront to those who prize the anti-establishment connotations of blogging. The Minister�s blog has also been criticised for being too �on-message�, suggesting that he should divulge more about himself and his department. For some, Miliband should perhaps be using his blog as a �confessional� to expose big government and his fellow members of Cabinet. Of course, this was never the intention. The blog is revealing and provides an insight about a minister and his department that might not otherwise have been available in the mainstream media. Without it there would not have been a public space where members of the public could gather to criticise, debate and support the Minister�s ideas, opinions and activities in such a frequent and open manner. The cost of the blog technology generated a great deal of the negativity directed at it. At just over �6000, this was (comparatively) an expensive blog � given that there are a range of free and open source alternatives on the market that are popular and widely used. Compared to government�s wider spending on online communications, however, it is a small sum. The decision to spend this amount on a blog was driven by the departmental web team�s desire to ensure that the application they bought enabled maximum flexibility, manageability and security. Ultimately, the costs should be measured against usage and impact over a longer evaluation period (see �Next Steps�). There are aspects of David Miliband�s blogging that have justified the criticism. The most important is that for reasons of inexperience and lack of time Miliband has not adequately established his blog�s presence online. There are very few links to other relevant blogs � either in the permanent �blog roll� or in the posts. The Minister rarely interacts with the comments made in response to his posts, and does not visit other blogs to comment. Therefore, the Minister�s blog fails to exploit its potential as a node in the communicative network that blogging has created. It stands out because of its establishment associations and looks awkward next to its peers. Redressing the inefficiencies presents the most pressing challenge to David Miliband and his fledgling blog. Success may bring a greater acceptance by bloggers and generate more general traffic amongst those who are not regular participants in the political process. However, this will require a team effort by the Minister and his departmental communications team, and it will be interesting to see how this will be viewed by evangelical bloggers and political opponents. Contact details:eDemocracy Programme,Hansard Society, 40-43 Chancery Lane London WC2A 1JA e - edemocracy@hansard.lse.ac.uk |
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