Last Monday, Ukip leader Nigel Farage found himself drawn onto unfamiliar ground. Under a barage of questioning, he ended up making a gaffe about the age at which his party believes sex education in schools should begin, apparently advocating sex education for children younger than 11—the age at which Ukip's official policy says such classes should begin. It was picked up by several newspapers: “Nigel Farage confused over Ukip's sex education policy,” screamed one unfavourable headline.
Who was the interviewer? Had Paxo returned from his hiatus? Was Jon Snow going off on one of his crusades? Neither grey-haired champion of the old guard was responsible. The questioner was 22-year-old Hannah Witton, who produces video blogs about sex and relationships and has over 17,000 followers on Twitter. The battleground was “Leaders Live,” a series of debates with the leaders of the main parties streamed live on YouTube and featuring questions asked by an audience of 16-24 year olds.
Tonight, Leaders Live will host Labour leader Ed Miliband: you can watch his debate below from 5.30pm. Miliband will face questions fired at him via YouTube or Twitter on three topics of his choice—jobs, health and democracy—and one chosen by voters via an online poll—immigration, likely to be a less favourable option for Labour HQ. As with the other debates, questions will be directed to, and delivered by, a studio audience of young people chosen for their strong social media presence.
Watch Ed Miliband grilled on Leaders Live from 5.30:
Leaders live is organised by Bite the Ballot, a charity which seeks to get more young people registered to vote—and actually voting. Oliver Sidorczuk, their policy coordinator, tells me that the idea was inspired by the way some public figures, from celebrities like Will.i.am to US President Barack Obama, have used Google Hangouts to communicate with their audiences and fans. The intention, he says, is to highlight differences between parties' policies in a way that is accessible to those who have stepped back from mainstream politics. “As opposed to your instinct of spoling your ballot paper, this is meant to say to the critics who dismiss politicians as a grey mass: 'they are different,'” he says.
The first two debates, with the Greens' Natalie Bennett then Farage, have done just that. Bennett's appearance saw her explaining that the Greens' approach to environmental change is more about economic and societal reform than personal behaviour—an oft-overlooked but crucial theme of their manifesto. Farage, meanwhile, set out nuances of his immigration policy that may be unfamiliar to some young voters. He answered a question about the positive economic effect of migration, for example, by explaining that he would rather Britain forgo what he describes as a relatively small economic benefit in favour of avoiding massive population growth. Sidorczuk also describes Farage's grilling as a personal highlight, thanks in part to his education gaffe: “if one thing comes from Leaders Live... [it's that] party leaders can't make up policy on the hoof.”
Bite the Ballot are certainly having a good go at getting that message across. During Farage's appearance, #leaderslive was the top UK hashtag trending on Twitter, beating the more pessimistic but equally politicised #CameronMustGo. His YouTube video attracted an estimated 40,000 unique views.
But arguably the most important debates are yet to come, which will allow young voters access to politicians who could actually be in government next May, such as Miliband and Nick Clegg (who will appear on the 16th December). Number 10 have said that David Cameron will appear but he is yet to firm up a date. Sidorczuk says he hopes the first debates will “make him see that he's missing out.”
Bite the Ballot have also been contacted by furious SNP activists, who demand to know why their party leader Nicola Sturgeon has been excluded. Bite the Ballot's answer is simple: they have asked already, but thus far have heard nothing back. Sidorzcuk says he has already had a commitment from one particularly persistent SNP activist that he will start pressuring the leadership into taking part.
Bringing together partners from old and new media—ITV and Twitter UK are both helping out with the series—Leaders Live is a useful pre-election tool for young voters, but could also form a new social media-based blueprint for political interviews. They engage with their online audience on a deeper level than mainstream debate shows like Question Time, and represent a logical next step from the kind of frantic tweetalongs that often accompany such shows. The debates are, unusually, completely live, without any delay. Sidorczuk is keen to see the franchise taken elsewhere—he suggests that the rambunctious multi-party world of Northern Irish politics could be a good candidate. “We're an absolutely tiny team,” he says. “We're trying to show that it isn't that hard to bring democracy to people online.” We'll have to see how the panel fares against the expensive media training of major politicians in the coming weeks, but with a new generation raised on the internet demanding unprecented levels of openness and audience participation in the way they consume news, major broadcasters should pay close attention.
