Political spin - are You getting tricked?

In a nutshell:

It’s election time in the UK, and so today’s episode of Bosses for Breakfast features the Spin Doctor, Paul Richards, to talk about how the scene is set, the current trends and what to look out for during the campaign. 

Paul Richards has more than 25 years of experience supporting the messages of politicians. He’s the editor of Tony Blair: In His Own Words and he’s been the advisor to several Cabinet ministers. Paul explains the day-to-day combat that occurs between political parties and how they use both social media and mainstream media to influence who citizens will vote for.

“Social media and Facebook ads influenced the Leave vote.”

In the 2016 United Kingdom European Union membership referendum (also known as the Brexit referendum), social media and Facebook ads, in particular, influenced the Leave vote. This time around, social media is still powerful, but Twitter seems to be at the forefront, and once the dust settles, there will be more analysis to determine the trends. Each election (or referendum) is its own beast, and data from the last cannot be extrapolated on to the next. Low budget social media videos that are getting tons of retweets and shares are cutting through the noise and showing audiences a more genuine view of the politicians than some of the higher ticket campaign tactics. Fake news stories have also been seen to try to sway the election results through foul means.

Social media tactics

Paul discusses the personal branding around Boris Johnson and Donald Trump, and how the opposing parties are trying to break the brand. Both are trying to rise above everyday politics and look to other motivating factors, resulting in a populist viewpoint. Social media tactics, the dead cat and Russian bots are also explained with respect to the election. Paul delves into what he would advise for the party leaders who are on the campaign trail now. He also talks about how journalistic and news values still apply, but Twitter is now everyone’s personal newswire. Currently, the public views online news as more authentic than mainstream media; however, the reality is that the opposite is actually true. Thus, Paul doesn’t think that social media will replace real journalists anytime soon. 

Links:

• Read Paul Richard’s books, Tony Blair: In His Own Words and How to Be a Spin Doctor