The Murdoch owned tabloid came out last night in favour of the Cameron led Conservative party. It did so whilst trumpeting the claim that it always picks the winner in the UK general election.
There was more than a nod to the headline “It’s The Sun Wot Won It” printed after the 1992 vote when they backed John Major. In the confident proclamations of George Pascoe-Watson, the paper’s political editor, do we detect the hint of a suggestion that Britain’s biggest daily dose of dead wood and ink actually decides the outcome of the poll?
There is no question that Gordon Brown’s popularity is at the lowest of ebbs but there is plenty of evidence around the social networks that the Sun’s decision has actually brought people out in support of Gordon. National papers simply do not carry the same political influence when the ordinary voter can cry ‘foul’ and then publish their own views. With the opinion polls so solidly predicting a Conservative coup, Murdoch and his red top flagship might even be accused of bandwagon jumping.
We also now live in an era where the people talk back and are far less likely than ever before to be told by the media how to vote. Labour’s chances don’t look good but The Sun may have given the divided activists something to rally around. Former prime minister Harold Wilson said “a week is a long time in politics” and there are still quite a few weeks to go.
It is time for the British media to end their unholy alliance with the publicist Max Clifford. Max plies his trade by doing deals and peddling untruths, he says so himself and I have witnessed it at first hand. 
Alan Rusbridger the Editor of the Guardian has started to twitter. Along the the Telegraph’s William Lewis he is blazing the trail for major newspaper editors in using the microblogging social network*. It should be of little surprise that he is leading the way. Many of his colleagues at the paper are avid users and the Guardian itself is redefining media concepts. The Guardian is no longer just a newspaper. It is a trusted media brand that delivers audio, video, web content as well as a daily, dead wood and ink edition.
Ever wondered why PR people are sometimes called flacks? No, me neither but come to think of it I’ve dodged some in my time as a PR person and too often from journalists. 
A term frequently used in digital PR circles is ’blogger engagement’. Although many blogs are a form of participatory journalism they tend regard themselves as different from mainstream journalism. Some bloggers are in fact journalists who see blogging as a channel for communicationg their views and opinions directly to the audience without editorial interference.
