Sometimes the politics of the media are more important than the politics

The Guardian's hybrid Life / Online supplement today had a backpage piece from Sean Dobson and Ben Hammersley eulogising the effect the web has had on Howard Dean's doomed campaign to be the next U.S. President. I've not decided whether the article is a realistic portrait of what has transpired in America or just further evidence of the Guardian fetishism of what it calls "the weblog phenomenon".

But it only added to my frustration about the way The Guardian covers stories about the BBC's internet presence. By harnessing the activities of supporters via the web the article claims that:

He [Howard Dean], and his online supporters, will have changed politics forever.

You would think they might look to see if this effect, using readily available web-tools like Meetup, is something that could happen in the UK. Or whether there is something comparable in the UK, like (he said plucking at random), the current beta version of iCan.

But no, iCan generally only gets mentioned by The Guardian in print when they can snidely suggest that the opposing votes on these campaigns to abolish the licence fee come from Bush House and White City.

...although iCan't made me laugh.