DUP winning cyberspace battle by landside
Despite the assembly election being postponed, Northern Ireland's political battles continue in cyberspace. William Scholes reviews the parties' websites and finds unionists may well have won this contest.
Stormont might have been forced off-line after the suspension of the may 29 assembly poll, but that doesn't mean Northern Ireland's political parties have suspended their election campaigns.
Although the party political broadcasts have been pulled, the billboards and posters stacked in printers' warehouses and the manifesto's left to gather dust, the battle for the hearts and minds of Northern Ireland's voters is continuing - virtually.
All of the north's main parties have got themselves on-line in an attempt to harness the power of the internet to present their messages and win votes.
Browsers can click on a series of articles - most concentrating on attacking the Ulster Unionists - listed beside a smiling picture of the DUP's five MPs.
News of latest DUP can also be sent by email and text message and the site also carries biographies of the party's elected representatives, an archive and video footage of speeches.
Deputy leader Peter Robinson's brand new and superbly designed website is also but a mouse-click away.
In contrast to the bright and breezy approach of the DUP, the Ulster unionist party site casts a more sombre shadow over the worldwide web.
A photograph of Mr Trimble, his face obscured by a Phantom of the Opera-like shadow, is tucked away in the top corner of the homepage above a lengthy list of links to press release archives and discussion papers.
For an organisation renowned for its skill at presenting its message, Sinn Fein's website must be a little disappointing for on-line republicans.
The SDLP site is also rather clunky but does feature biographies of its leading figures, press releases, archived discussions documents and links to former assembly members' personal websites.
The Alliance Party's attempts to modernise its website before the May 29 poll seem to have been torpedoed by the postponement - and by the possible cloning of leader David ford.
The 'people' link from the homepage leads to no fewer than six Mr Fords, presumably including the real one, who appears to fill in the ranks of the party's leadership.
Is the sort of virtual insanity we should expect in the political vacuum left by the postponement of assembly elections?
Article taken from the Irish News, Friday may 9th 2003 www.irishnews.com
A trawl of the official websites reveals that the DUP's slick, smooth-running site wins by a landslide.
Photographs of Mr Robinson, copies of his speeches, press releases lamenting David Trimble's willingness to "slither back" into power with Sinn Fein and the facility to book an appointment with the East Belfast MP over the internet are among the options available. There is nothing, however, to tell us where Mr Robinson - a keen breeder of ornamental fish, the site informs us - purchases his eye-catching shirts and ties.
Although up-to-date news releases are available, the rest of the site appears not to have been revised since Stormont was suspended last October.
