NATO Summit 2014 yet to show any signs of delivering on 'opportunity' promise

The closer the NATO Summit gets, the further away the much hailed 'opportunities' retreat. With the revelation that the vast majority of journalists will be accommodated in Cardiff, it becomes clear that the promise of a huge media presence in the city and a chance to showcase ourselves is evaporating. One of the biggest carrots has gone rotten... 

Media accreditation is now open for the NATO Summit Wales 2014. Up to 1,500 journalists and other media representatives now need to register and go through security scrutiny before they can receive their passes to attend. Pretty standard stuff for such an event.

The Summit has been hailed as a 'great opportunity' for Newport, and although public feeling has done a 180 degree U-turn against the event, there are still die-hards insisting that it's going to be great for the city. But while we learn daily of more ways in which the Summit is going to be one big, expensive inconvenience, we have yet to see any actual sign of a benefit beyond 'it will raise the profile of the city'. Excuse me while I yawn.

The arrival in Newport of the massed ranks of the media has been one of the main carrots dangled from the start. The expectation was that thousands of journos would be descending on the city with their expense account credit cards, buying 'I Love Newport' t-shirts, eating in our restaurants, drinking in our pubs, and writing glowing reports of what a fabulous city this is and how people and businesses around the planet should think seriously about coming here.

That carrot has now passed its 'use by' date.

As well as opening registration for media passes, the Government has also appointed HRG as the nominated agency to book hotel accommodation for journalists and media crews who wish to attend the NATO Summit Wales 2014. It's a convenient service for international media flying in from all corners of the globe - a one-stop-shop where they can book their accommodation securely through a Government appointed representative.

However, there are only six hotels listed on the HRG webpage, and guess what? Four of the six are in Cardiff. But the picture for Newport is even bleaker because combined the two Newport hotels have only 346 rooms between them. The other 1154 rooms needed will be in the capital. So while a third of the hotels are in Newport, less than a quarter of the rooms needed are.

Obviously this is great news for Cardiff, its restaurants and businesses. And we can confidently predict there will be vastly more international promotion for Cardiff than Newport in any coverage surrounding the Summit. In fact, it will be pretty damned hard to find much positive pro-Newport coverage at all following the event.

But we have to be realistic here, because Newport is not overly well endowed with hotel accommodation away from the cluster around the Coldra roundabout. Once you take the Celtic Manor Resort out of the picture, the city simply doesn't have the capacity to comfortably accommodate 1,500 international journalists who will (rightly) be expecting something a bit better than the Travelodge in the city centre. So if you are the Government organising the Summit, it makes sense to work with Cardiff hotels. That's not where the issue lies here.

The issue is once again with the nonsense STILL being regurgitated by the die-hards and political optimists about 'a great opportunity' and how this is a chance to 'showcase Newport'. There are plenty of examples, for instance Conservative MP David Jones who recently tweeted...

.@NATOWales will be a huge opportunity to showcase Newport, one of the great commercial cities of Wales.
— David Jones (@DavidJonesMP) June 28, 2014

That's a big bold and oft repeated statement. But we need to see a bit of meat on the bones about how this is going to work. Because frankly, it's looking less obvious by the day.

Just having famous world leaders descending on Celtic Manor Resort simply doesn't cut it as an answer to the question, because it doesn't think through the reality.

Mr Obama and the rest will have very tight schedules and will be tied up with the business of the Summit. It is highly unlikely they will have the time or inclination to go out sightseeing in Newport, and indeed with tens of thousands of protesters in the city they will be deterred from doing so by their security. So we can count out the political delegations who won't dare to venture anywhere near Newport, and we can also count out the majority of journalists who, if they do venture into the city, will do so only to cover the protests.

So who does that leave? Who are we counting on to witness and report to the world on our showcase opportunity? And what actual form is the 'showcase' taking? Perhaps if somebody could convincingly answer these questions we will at least know who we are targeting and how the city is going to do it.

UPDATE
A meeting of the HOC Welsh Affairs Committee entitled 'International Representation and Promotion of Wales by UK bodies' is scheduled to take place 2.30pm Wednesday 9th July. It can be followed live at http://www.parliamentlive.tv/Main/Player.aspx?meetingId=15752

Cameron's Coalition first to feel the Wrath of the Twittersphere

The coalition government led by David Cameron is the first government to truly suffer the wrath of the Twittersphere.

Launched in July 2006, Twitter is only now reaching critical mass. Driven initially by the chance to follow celebrities (take a bow Stephen Fry), Twitter usage rapidly evolved from simple fandom into a way of getting news way before professional news outlets could supply it. The predominant usage has continued to evolve and today it presents a primary vehicle for the global and local populace to voice opinions on a rage of topics, from Celebrity Big Brother to national and global politics.

The 'Trend' has become all important. Twitter users increasingly watch and contribute to trending subjects. As a result, we can now get a much better idea about what people REALLY think.

When it comes to the world of politics, governments have, until the arrival of Twitter, led charmed lives. Governments from both the left and the right have become skilled in manipulating the news agenda. They have employed masters in the art (take a bow Alistair Campbell) who have been spectacularly successful at taking news stories and spinning and massaging them through often sympathetic news outlets. They have been able to bury bad news behind larger stories, safe in the knowledge that, with finite room in newspapers, there was little chance that the stories would be elevated into anything long-lasting or troublesome. And many stories would be considered too minor for many editors to bother with.

That has all changed with the arrival of Twitter.

In recent months the Twittersphere has grown, accelerated and become more politically aware. The coalition government has been criticised and ridiculed daily in some depth. No aspect of the lives and actions of ministers has been ignored. The overall impression given by the Twittersphere is that this government is deeply resented. From daily trends about how spineless Nick Clegg is, to the joy shown about the booing of George Osborne at the Paralympics; the volume of online criticism is unrelenting and overpowering.

Unfortunately for Cameron, the government can't counter this tidal wave of criticism by blaming it on special interest groups or opposition tactics. Twitter is democratically representative and everyone and anyone contributes to it. In this way Twitter truly is a finger in the wind of public opinion. It is in no way manipulated because it is impossible to manipulate. David Cameron's government is taking a very public and vicious beating by the people and it can do nothing about it.

So what about traditional news outlets living in the shadow of Twitter?

Newspapers, which have been traditionally partisan, need to tread carefully in the shadow of Twitter. In the past, news agencies which held the reins of the news agenda would, like the spin doctors, apply their own bias to stories. In doing so they were immensely powerful and influential, able to dictate to some degree how people view and think about stories.

However, with the new democracy offered up by Twitter, news outlets now run a very real risk of being seen as out of kilter with popular opinion as expressed via Twitter. As an example, prior to the arrival of Twitter, the Daily Mail could easily have presented NHS cuts as a good idea and could play down resistance to help support the government in its plans. But would it dare to do the same today when Twitter clearly shows just how unhappy people are with the idea?

The likely outcome is that newspapers, if they want to survive next to Twitter, will need to play down their own bias and pay more attention to what the majority of people are really thinking. The days of newspapers setting agendas is over. They now need to start following instead of leading.

And what about governments?

The same applies to governments. Quite simply they can't get away with things to the degree they did pre-Twitter. Almost every member of the new reshuffled Cabinet has been hauled over the Twitter coals. Past indiscretions of people like Grant Shapps (AKAMichael Green), the new Conservative Party Chairman, has on several occasions trended. In the past these indiscretions would barely have made the news, certainly not in government supporting papers.

People in 2012 don't need to take to the streets in protest. The mass protest march through the streets of London is a thing of the past. Instead, people now take to Twitter. It is quicker, easier and a LOT more effective.

If an election were called tomorrow, David Cameron would lose to a party led by footballing bad boy Joey Barton, such is the unpopularity of his government. This unpopularity is being voiced through Twitter and anti-government momentum is being maintained through Twitter. Cameron stands no chance of getting on top of this situation and will probably be the first Prime Minister to be kicked out by the Twittersphere. His replacement needs to learn the lesson quickly that we, the people, now truly have a voice. We WILL scrutinise and we WILL be heard. And no newspaper is going to tell us what to think anymore.

TOP TIP to tyrannical dictatorships. Ban Twitter NOW or suffer the consequences.