Winners and losers in the party political website stakes

By CHRIS DANIELS

In four days New Zealanders go to the polls to elect the next Government.

For weeks you have been assailed by roadside hoardings and suffered through television advertisements.

The same battle for your vote is being played out online, as the parties and pressure groups fight for cyber-dominance.

Who is winning? your net assembled a team of media judges from radio, TV, print and internet to rate the sites of the top five polling parties: Labour, National, the Greens, Act and New Zealand First.

When our judging panel was formed, these five were the only parties polling over the 5 per cent threshold - although the landscape has shifted somewhat in the past few days.

Russell Brown, Listener computer columnist and presenter of National Radio's Mediawatch programme, is now into his third election campaign of assessing political party websites.

He says a party is unlikely to lose votes with a bad website, but can win votes with a good one.

Another advantage of a good website is to provide a home for party members and to keep them enthused.

"What you can do with the website is give your party people a good resource and a place to meet; to sign up to mailing lists; to give people bullet points on issues to harangue others with," Brown says.

A lot of organisation is now done online.

But such organisation and emailing lists for party supporters is also an area where cyber-politics can come unstuck.

People often hold political views privately and a less-than-secure mailing list on the Act site incensed two of our judges.

Both web publisher Bruce Simpson (Aardvark) and Brown are scathing of Act for allowing any stranger to sign up whomever they like to the party's email list.

"Last time I checked, the Act mailing list was a spammer's delight," says Simpson.

"Single opt-in with no clear opt-out instructions. They even invite you to sign up other people without first getting their permission - absolutely outrageous and totally unacceptable in a world that is already filled to the brim with unwanted email and spam."

Simpson also has a web-designer's eye for the kind of colours and features that can turn a visit to a party's website into a chore.

"I realise red is the Labour Party's colour, but the blinding glare of a screen with so much red is not pleasant," he says.

Glyn Jones, executive producer for TVNZ's nzoom.com, gives extra marks to features such as the quiz on Labour's site, and a "match the ministers" activity.

But as a man who helps to run one of the country's big news sites, he knows how important it is to be up-to-date, something Labour might also pay more attention to.

"Overall, nice design and some interesting elements, but not as high-impact as it should be and disappointing that the ruling party's website is incomplete and not as up-to-date as it should be."

Simpson agrees: "As for multimedia, they promise it on the front-page menu but when you go there it simply says, 'Sorry, there are currently no articles to display in this area. Please try back again in the future' ... "

Translating what works at a meeting in a community hall to the internet is a tough job, and one our judges feel New Zealand First has failed to achieve.

For instance, seeing Winston Peters' convoluted speech displayed as text on a computer screen makes understanding difficult:

"I am today giving fair warning to gangs and thugs throughout New Zealand. Savour your bragging and violent ways while you can because come 27 July, New Zealand First intends to unleash upon you the full weight and authority of the law and the social agencies upon whom you depend, to deal to you in the most rigorous manner and have you cease your anti-social barbaric behaviour forthwith."

Phew.

Changing the face of campaigning online is where two of the other minor parties from opposite ends of the spectrum, Act and the Greens, won over most of our judges.

On the Greens' site you can download an MP3 of a song by Nandor Tanczos, obtain an organic apple cake recipe from Rod Donald and obtain video footage of speeches.

The Greens are also using the internet to sell Green-labelled hats, umbrellas, water bottles, T-shirts, the lot.

Its site, largely put together by volunteers, is deep and wide, with details of more campaigns, reports and submissions that can possibly be absorbed on a quick visit.

Act is using the internet to spread its message across the globe, particularly targeting New Zealanders working in Britain, broadcasting daily press conferences through its website at 10.30 each morning.

Online shopping with Act is not as exciting or as fashion-conscious as the Greens'. Free-market believers must satisfy themselves with books by Richard Prebble and Sir Roger Douglas.

One of the conclusions of the your net panel is that the most innovative and interesting online political work is coming from the minor parties - Act and the Greens come top of the class for their sites.

Labour and National have not done anything wrong, say the judges, but could be so much better as the biggest and supposedly best-funded of the parties.

Then again, perhaps the internet dream of equality for all is being embraced in cyber-politics, where the smaller parties and interest groups can compete with the deep pockets of the political titans.

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