Recently in Zach Exley Category

"Astroturf" is a brand of arttificial sports field playing surface. It is also now used to describe a "fake political grassroots movement".

Whilst these things are common in the USA, "astroturfng" was evident during the Labour Party's last General Election campaign, where various Photo Opportunities relied on hand picked audiences and fake "members of the public" applauding Tony Blair and Gordon Brown etc. all stage managed for the media.

The Labour Party seems to have, belatedly, tried to jump on both the World Cup bandwagon, and on the growing popularity of blogs, with the notorious NuLabour spin doctor Alastair Campbell pontificating on the Labour's World Cup Blog 2006 with Alastair Campbell.

This seems to be currently under heavy comment censorship as Tim Ireland posts snippets of Alastair's public domain election expense claims.

There is also the Labour's World Cup Blog 2006 with Sadiq Khan MP

Sadiq Khan is the Labour MP for Tooting in south London.

Both of these "blogs" are hosted on the offical Labour party website.

Can the idea of "astroturf" be any more clearly demonstrated than by the obviously photo-manipulated fake image of the MP's head superimopsed on an England shirt ?

khans_150.jpg

Even Labour activist bloggers are embarrassed by this manipulated photo, and by the lack of genuine two way conversation with the people who have taken the trouble to bother to comment.

UPDATE 15th June:

At last the spin doctors have finally put up a more natural photo, which really does emphasise the original "astroturf" fake:

new_khans_150.jpg

Will this be used as an example of how not to run a political blog ?

Is this what Zach Exely is being paid by NuLabour for ?

The Sunday Times hints at the Channel 4 TV programme "Dispatches Investigation: The Dirty Tricks Election", due to be broadcast this Monday 23rd May 2005, at 20:00, (no details yet on their website):

"Meanwhile, the Labour party is braced for criticism over dirty tricks during the election. A Channel 4 Dispatches programme will tell of an undercover reporter’s experiences inside Labour HQ during the election.

Jenny Kleeman will reveal how fake letters were sent to local newspapers to show support for Labour’s achievements. She will also describe how Alan Milburn, the campaign co-ordinator, and Campbell used to “high five” in the middle of the office.

"I witnessed extraordinary examples of the kind of foul-mouthed bullying and everyday mendacity that are the common currency of Labour’s male-dominated media organisation," she said."

The Observer goes into more detail:

"How Labour used its election troops to fake popular support

Documentary shows activists writing letters to newspapers and posing as 'local people' to greet Blair on campaign trail

About this blog

This weblog comments on NuLabour's anti-democratic and authoritarian policies and political manipulation. We will try to deconstruct some of the NuLabour propaganda, disinformation, media spin and leaks.

Nothing has changed with the unelected Gordon Brown, who took over as Labour Party leader from Tony Blair, and became Prime Minister, without being elected, not even by the Labour Party, let alone with a political mandate from a General Election.

Now that there is a Conservative / Liberal Democrat coalition government, this blog will continue to watch out for any NuLabour creepiness and control freakery, attempting to ooze back into political power and influence, under the unpopular Ed Miliband, who personally shares the blame for all of NuLabour / Labour's policies. .

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