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| Version 0 | Version 1 |
|---|---|
| Use media to engage voters - PM | Use media to engage voters - PM |
| (about 7 hours later) | |
| Politicians need to use different media to engage voters on issues, Prime Minister Tony Blair has said in a podcast recorded at Downing Street. | |
| He said the role of 24-hour news channels had put "an enormous stress and strain on the way that the public debate politically happens". | He said the role of 24-hour news channels had put "an enormous stress and strain on the way that the public debate politically happens". |
| Mr Blair said young people needed to be engaged by issues they were interested in, such as technology careers. | Mr Blair said young people needed to be engaged by issues they were interested in, such as technology careers. |
| He described a "kind of fragmentation" prompting a change in politics. | He described a "kind of fragmentation" prompting a change in politics. |
| 'Competitive media' | 'Competitive media' |
| Interviewed by actor Stephen Fry, the prime minister said: "The most difficult thing in fact...is that there is this interaction between politics and the media today that is very difficult because the media is highly, highly competitive." | Interviewed by actor Stephen Fry, the prime minister said: "The most difficult thing in fact...is that there is this interaction between politics and the media today that is very difficult because the media is highly, highly competitive." |
| While he said he was not criticising the media, he said it "works by impact ... and the biggest impact will come from scandal or controversy or pictures that make a visible impact." | While he said he was not criticising the media, he said it "works by impact ... and the biggest impact will come from scandal or controversy or pictures that make a visible impact." |
| He said it was difficult to have a "reasoned policy debate" unless it was communicated in "sufficiently newsworthy terms" for press and television. | He said it was difficult to have a "reasoned policy debate" unless it was communicated in "sufficiently newsworthy terms" for press and television. |
| He said politicians needed to accept that not every person was interested in the same subjects - "therefore you have got to tailor the manner of your debate". | He said politicians needed to accept that not every person was interested in the same subjects - "therefore you have got to tailor the manner of your debate". |
| 'Fragmentation' | 'Fragmentation' |
| "If you take a young person and their political interest today, there is no point, in my view, in the Labour Party or the Conservative Party, any political party, engaging those young people at the level of thinking that they are as interested, for example, in National Health Service reform, which people tend to get to somewhat late in life." | "If you take a young person and their political interest today, there is no point, in my view, in the Labour Party or the Conservative Party, any political party, engaging those young people at the level of thinking that they are as interested, for example, in National Health Service reform, which people tend to get to somewhat late in life." |
| He said young people would more likely be interested in the environment or Africa, "or, you know, career opportunities in new technology industries which is something that they will have a particular fascination for. | He said young people would more likely be interested in the environment or Africa, "or, you know, career opportunities in new technology industries which is something that they will have a particular fascination for. |
| "And therefore this fragmentation is meaning that the world of politics has to operate with different mediums and different points in time." | "And therefore this fragmentation is meaning that the world of politics has to operate with different mediums and different points in time." |
| During the interview, he also said he did not keep a diary, and his red box does not contain a laptop - unlike his Cabinet colleagues' boxes. | During the interview, he also said he did not keep a diary, and his red box does not contain a laptop - unlike his Cabinet colleagues' boxes. |
| Mr Blair said he expected to "devote a lot of time" learning about computers when he leaves Number Ten. | Mr Blair said he expected to "devote a lot of time" learning about computers when he leaves Number Ten. |