By IRNA,
London : Prime Minister Gordon Brown is launching his own web-based TV channel, offering exclusive video of his speeches, press conferences, media appearances and news archives, according to Brightcove, the company providing the technology.
The TV channel, which is due to go live within days, is seen as part of the government’s efforts to resurrect the prime minister’s negative poll ratings.
The new online channel, accessible via his Downing Street website, fits with Brown’s “broader strategy of trying to reverse the sharp fall in his ratings by reaching out to the public more effectively,” the Financial Times said Thursday.
The British government has been using the video-sharing website YouTube to exploit the potential of the internet to reach voters directly, while the opposition Conservatives launched Webcameron, named after its leader two years ago to provide video clips.
But the initiatives, designed to use the latest technology and by-pass Britain’s often critical media, have largely failed to attract sizeable audiences.
According to Tim Montgomerie, editor of the opposition party’s ConservativeHome website, British politicians have so far been unable to emulate the ability of their US counterparts in using the internet to fund raise and reach out to apathetic voters.
“British politics on the web is still way behind America,” Montgomerie said. The main parties, he said, had yet to trust voters enough to exploit the interactive nature of the internet.