Chamber of Commerce Talk on Blogging and the Election

Very much enjoyed giving a presentation to the Wellington Chamber of Commerce on Friday about the impact of blogging on politics overseas and in New Zealand.

The Hive has a summary of what I said, from John Bishop’s newsletter.  I actually gave The Hive a plug as a new must read blog.  I also gave the Greens the overall prize for the best use of blogging and overall use of online technologies to communicate. I’ll let people guess which party was in 8th place 🙂

I might have got a bit too enthusiastic when I floated the concept of term limits on the press gallery so journalists focus more on the policy issues behind political debates, rather than the politics of the politics.  WRCC CEO Charles Finney said with a smile he would be sure to let Ian Templeton know 🙂

What really did surprise me (but less so with hindsight) was when Charles introduced me and said that since it had been public they had invited me, the Chamber had received abusive phone calls and e-mails from a few disgruntled individuals. Charming as always the “fan club”.