Forget The Sun – we can move our underdog campaign to the internet

By Bryony King

The Sun returning its support to its traditional right-wing friends, the Tories, shouldn’t surprise anybody and it shouldn’t particularly worry anybody either, despite the media getting over excited. As Sunder Katwala points out in his article it was never ‘The Sun wot won it’ and in today’s media climate the influence of the daily newspaper is even less than it was in 1992 or 1997.

The general response from Labour supporters seems to be ‘forget The Sun, people can make their own mind up’, but that point should be added to: yes, forget The Sun but remember the internet – one thing we all should have learned from Obama’s campaign in the American elections.

The influence of many sections of the media may be waning; they are not as important and influential when it comes to politics as they like to think they are. Tony Blair continued to win elections in the face of much media negativity surrounding the party and the decision to go to war.

But the internet is favourable to the underdog. It’s a strong tool for mobilising support and funds, all of which made it an essential tool for Obama’s campaign. Arianna Huffington, editor in chief of The Huffington Post, said:

“Were it not for the internet, Barack Obama would not be president. Were it not for the internet, Barack Obama would not have been the nominee”.

If we want to forget about The Sun, which I’m sure we all do, then we need to switch our focus to the internet and to the front line. Elections are won by people, not papers, and we need to make sure the Labour message is reaching those people and we need to be communicating with them. MPs, PPCs and activists can all play a part in the internet campaign. Labour politicians need to be following the example of those who are already utilising the internet, with party members aiding and networking on their behalf.

Voters are as likely to be twittering, logging into facebook or watching videos on YouTube than reading The Sun everyday. That’s where Labour need to be with them to win the election.