Simon Hardy from Left Unity on Sky News
Left Unity vs James Max on the latest Tory MP multi-millionaire. 8 November 2013
youtube link:
11 comments
11 responses to “Simon Hardy from Left Unity on Sky News”
Left Unity is active in movements and campaigns across the left, working to create an alternative to the main political parties.
About Left Unity
Read our manifesto
Left Unity is a member of the European Left Party. 
Read the European Left Manifesto
ACTIVIST CALENDAR
Events and protests from around the movement, and local Left Unity meetings.
Saturday 21st June: End the Genocide – national march for Palestine
Join us to tell the government to end the genocide; stop arming Israel; and stop starving Gaza!
More details here
Summer University, 11-13 July, in Paris
Peace, planet, people: our common struggle
The EL’s annual summer university is taking place in Paris.
More events »
GET UPDATES
Sign up to the Left Unity email newsletter.
CAMPAIGNING MATERIALS
Get the latest Left Unity resources.
Well done Simon – How did you manage not to have a poppy stuck on you on Sky!!
I think Simon does an excellent job here (as does Bianca Todd here (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oRAEP2J8fsg) against a far more sympathetic interlocutor) but we need to make sure that our representatives in the media have a good grasp of how to deal with often deliberately misleading questions designed to stop us getting our points across. I think Left Unity media training would be an excellent idea.
Good point, Rich. I received a day’s media training in the 1990s from a firm called CSV Media. I don’t know if they still exist or there are better ones out there. It was called ‘Handling the Broadcast Interview’ and has stood me in good stead over the years.
SImon did well but I think what he said could have been even more successful if he had injected a bit more emotion & emphasis into it, which his opponent did + given more direct answers to the points made against him. Even so, there are plus points from not appearing to be smooth or twisting your facial muscles about to give a more ‘compelling’ delivery – if our representatives come across as another bunch of media-trained politicians saying differnt things but looking and sounding the same, we will be in trouble. This probably means we need a bespoke course.
To the opposing charge that SImon was just producing a silly argument that should not be listened to, he could have said that it was grounded in social science – in cognitive dissonance theory – which showed that people achieve empathy when they are confronted with a reality which clashes with their own values / opinions. This is how the US military became the place where the first breakthrough was made in support for Civil Rights – white soldiers working alongside blacks could no longer believe the racist claptrap they had been exposed to up to that point.
To the point that all people who become MPs become part of the way the system thinks and that this will always be true so long as we have a political elite, I wish SImon had said – Yes, that is the problem and it is why, in the long term, LU would replace Parliament with recallable representatives who can’t serve more than a set period, precisely in order to prevent a political elite forming and becoming ever more distant from the people.
Great to see us getting some exposure!
you are quite right John. Media skills training for our representatives is an absolute must. We are after all involved in an ideological conflict, in which the supporters of the capitalist status quo hold so many of the good cards, in the form of a complex set of pre-indoctrinated assumptions in the general population which they can call on to support their bogus arguments. We on the contrary are swimming against the “ideological tide” in putting across our radical, socialist, viewpoint.
Therefore we have to make the maximum impact whenever we get some media space. So far although LU reps in media interviews have come across as very sincere I would say they’ve also come across generally as VERY nervous and ill at ease. Left Unity reps don’t want to appear glib, but quiet confidence, a firm grasp of relevant facts, and an ability to deal smoothly with hostile and/or patronising interviewers are essential skills for effective communication. Role playing exercises with potential LU reps taking turns to play, around a relevant topic, the roles of LU rep, Right wing bastard rep, and hostile interviewer, in turn, is a good process to build confidence for the real thing.
I used to participate in IS/SWP cadre school training in the 1970’s where we did this for comrades to make them more proficient in both public meeting situations and media interviews. It really does work. We must do this with our media rep people if we are to maximise our impact. Of course our impact will also be immeasurably strengthened when we actually have an agreed set of objectives and some well thought out radical POLICIES !
I’m afraid I don’t agree, media training is part of the problem. If we have people who speak the truth with an honest and frank approach that’s perfect. The people in this country (including me) are sick to death of polished career politicians performing for the media.
Andy
Sorry Andy, but you are completely wrong. The capitalist mass media just loves shambolic , easy to mock, “Lefties” who actually simply expose socialist arguments to ridicule . The mass media will always find time for a self-publicising joker like Russell Brand to expound their half-baked “Dave Spart” pseudo Leftie ramblings. Because the incompetence of the presentation discredits the believability of there being a credible alternative to the pro capitalist status quo ideology that saturates the mass media most of the time.
We in Left Unity actually have a viable, serious, message to put over as an antidote to all the usual status quo reinforcing garbage put out most of the time by the mass media. On the few occasions that Left Unity spokespersons do get some airtime it is vital that they are not so nervous and flummoxed by the pressure of being on camera /on air that they fail to put over the relevant facts and arguments persuasively or clearly. There is nothing quite like having a camera and microphone stuffed in ones face for the mind to go blank – and the opportunity to put over the message is lost.
There is nothing to admire about incompetent amateurism . Effective public speaking needn’t be about glibness or insincerity. Sincerity and honesty, and a firm grasp of the issues, has to be effectively transmitted to the audience . Media training for LU spokespersons is absolutely essential if Left Unity is going to effectively try and use the mass media to fight the vital ideological battle that is such an important component of the fight against the myths and lies underpinning the Austerity Offensive.
I thought Simon did very well indeed.
His sincerity provided a good counterpoint to the other speaker’s forceful pro business approach, which we have all heard so many times.
However he and other LU representatives will need to provide the memorable soundbite to anchor the message in the minds of listeners.
Why should we be pleasing any politician heathens who would try to change the seasons if they could? The state of the condition insults my institution and it only makes me crazy and my heart like wood. I’m sure I am not the only person to feel like this.
JP – If you think Russell Brands performance is in any way incompetent, i am afraid you might be a little out of touch. His last few interviews and articles have got viral and had an enormous impact. His delivery may be highly original or not to your taste but it is massively effective.
Ray, Russell Brand has a very strange public personality which you cannot replicate. He has a following among some groups that means his words will resonate with them but a lot of others find him alienating. Boris Johnson is one of very few politicians with a similar personality and also splits opinion because of it.
Whatever our personalities, we need training to ensure that we have the confidence and ability to think on the spot as well as to choose how to phrase our messages best and how many examples to use.
I agree absolutely. I was just defending the talented Mr Brand!!