As MediaGuardian’s MediaMonkey has already noted and @journalism_live tweeted, the UK minister for communications, technology and broadcasting, Lord Carter, does not Twitter, and he has ‘no real desire’ to be on Twitter.
“I couldn’t compete,” he says – apparently in reference to the Guardian management addicted to the service (@arusbridger is also on Twitter these days, by the way).
So Lord Carter may not be, but @digitalbritain is on board, if you fancy following the UK government’s digital team.
Perhaps more controversial were Lord Carter’s comments about the importance of UK media, which didn’t make the next session’s panel host, Janneke Niessen, (the Dutch) co-founder of Improve Digital, too happy.
UK content is very different from that of other countries, Carter had said. “English media spreads,” Carter said.
He said that UK media output spreads more widely and crosses boundaries in different ways from the content of other countries – for example, from the Netherlands and Italy.
That’s a result of the widespread and global use of the English language, he was quick to add, sensing the sharp sucking in of breath around the room.