"Political blogs are fuelling a culture of cynicism about politics, communities secretary Hazel Blears has claimed....
In her speech, Ms Blears also complained about a "spreading corrosive cynicism" in political discussion.
She turned her fire on political "bloggers" - accusing them of fuelling disengagement by focusing on "unearthing scandals, conspiracies and perceived hypocrisy" and of being written by "people with disdain for the political system and politicians".
"The most popular blogs are right-wing, ranging from the considered Tory views of Iain Dale, to the vicious nihilism of Guido Fawkes," she said.
But she added: "Unless and until political blogging 'adds value' to our political culture, by allowing new and disparate voices, ideas and legitimate protest and challenge, and until the mainstream media reports politics in a calmer, more responsible manner, it will continue to fuel a culture of cynicism and pessimism."
Conservative blogger Iain Dale told BBC Radio 4's PM programme it was a shame more politicians did not use their own blogs.
'People like scandal'
He said bloggers, including himself, should ask themselves whether they were "just against everything" or should be "a little more positive".
But he added: "People like reading about scandal, they like reading about politicians being hypocritical - that's why Guido Fawkes has the highest ratings of any blog in the country - whether Hazel likes it or not."
In response on his blog Guido Fawkes blamed spin, "focus-group derived policies" and partisan positioning for the cynicism described by Ms Blears.
He added that she misunderstood the relationship between a free press and politicians.
"Take a memo Ms Blears, we are not here to 'add value', or do what politicians want, Guido has his own values and aims to hit back at political hypocrisy and lies. Politicians make laws, so they should be held to account, to a higher standard," he wrote.
Ms Blears told the BBC that politicians not giving straight answers could be an issue, but said a "grown up political discourse" could only happen if people were prepared to listen."
How dreadful that bloggers should spend their time "unearthing scandals, conspiracies and perceived hypocrisy" rather than acting like the BBC and other traditional media and just re-issuing Labour press releases and swallowing the latest spin supplied to them by a Downing Street wonk. Maybe there would be less cynical right-wing bloggers if the BBC and other media had not so completely first bought into the Tony Blair "Things can only get better" 1997 dream and now the Gordon Brown has the solution to fix the world economy "narrative".
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