Spinkontrol.dk closed

Spinkontrol.dk is announcing on its homepage that it has closed because of unrealistic expectations from the media.

That is too bad as it was a very good initiative. However I see their problem, as it was evident from some of the postings:

They weren't really dealing with spin as such. They pointed out how the liberal party Venstre was being misleading in information on their homepage. But that is bad argumentation, not spin. They pointed out how the TV-channel TV2 would use misleading graphics, but they would never be able to prove ill intent and the election race wouldn't be long enough for a picture of consistency in the manipulation to arise.

The conclusion must be that the Danish election race is still relatively straight forward and quick (compared to say, an American presidential election, a process taking years). The Danish debate is still rather mundane and isn't riddled with the same level of personal attacks as in other countries (even though this government has had its share of scandals - especially with camaraderie).

Another page doing the same job, but in a less sexy (and then perhaps, realistic) but thorough way is spinnesiden.dk. Mie Femø Nielsen seems to be the driving force behind this one and it reveals structural spin and strategies.

There is still a place in the world for spinkontrol.dk. I could imagine it as a blog dealing with bad argumentation and the following demands for real political substance. It could also look by spinnesiden.dk and make a list of common spin-moves - that would play very well into the rhetoricians' fetish with cataloging figures.