The People's Republic of South Devon

Want to get your voice heard without bunging the local paper £20K? Why, try the People’s Republic of South Devon, of course! And you can make your own video. Here’s a press release from the Newton Abbot Green Party about media coverage, honourable mention an’ all…

In response to the problems that South Devon Green Party has been having getting its voice in the mainstream media (with the honourable exception of PRSD), Corinne Lindsey, the Green Party Candidate for the Newton Abbot Constituency, has made her own election broadcast. The Teignbridge branch of the Green Party decided to make the video in reponse to the actions of Sky News online.

“Not being one of the big three parties,” Corinne said, “means that it is very difficult to get the media to cover our message. On the May 1, my agent contacted SkyNews online, when he noticed that on the Newton Abbot Constituency page on their website only the stale tweets of Anne-Marie Morris were on the Candidates’ Tweets. He simply asked that my tweets appeared alongside Anne-Marie Morris’s. Their response was to remove the entire section from the web page. So rather than allow the Green Party even a small voice for Newton Abbot, they chose to dismantle the platform they had created.”

Corinne has been an active blogger and twitterer during this campaign, but recognises that not all the candidates use new technology.

“New media technology is changing and democratising political campaigning. If people want to get to know me, talk to me, or find out what I stand for, all they need to do is type my name into a web browser,” Corinne said. “During this campaign, I have been out meeting people, campaigning on the streets and doorsteps, but our voice is silent in the press. If you read the regional newspapers, you’d be hard-pressed to know there were Green Party candidates in Devon at all.”

Corinne’s campaign apologises to all those who tried to access the video yesterday, but even the campaign most using New technology has a few unforeseen glitches.

Here’s the video, if you missed it…

(from a press release)

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