U.K. House Of Lords Heads To YouTube

They may not challenge the new Indiana Jones or "Sex and the City" films, but Britain's House of Lords is trying to update its slightly worn-out image with the launch of five new YouTube videos.

The short, informal videos will air on YouTube's Parliament channel, which currently offers virtual tours of the Houses of Parliament. They will try to soften the institution's often stuffy reputation by making it more accessible to youthful viewers, said Baroness Hayman, the Lord Speaker.

"The videos we have placed on the YouTube channel reflect the diversity and expertise in the House of Lords and its relevance to young people, and we hope that they will help to combat some of the outdated stereotypes of members of the Upper House," she said.

The relatively low budgets videos made by Agile Films for about 5,000 pounds (US$10,000) emphasize the diversity of the House of Lords in an effort to alter its long-standing reputation as a haven for elderly, affluent gentlemen.

Instead of emphasizing tradition, wisdom and the Lords' place in British history, the videos use contemporary music and short, quick interviews in an effort to move the Lords into the digital age.

Many teenagers appear on the videos, often expressing negative views about politicians or admitting they are confused about what the Lords does. The straightforward videos refrain from boasting about the Lords' place in British society and avoids the temptation to create a snappy logo or slogan to sum up the Lords' work.

On one of the videos, Baroness Hayman is shown visiting a local school to talk about the House of Lords and learn more about the students. The videos emphasize the presence of women and minorities in the House of Lords, stressing that it has become much more inclusive in the last 50 years.

The House of Lords has already established a "Lords of the Blog" Web site that allows Lords to share their thoughts with the public through an ongoing blog.

On Thursday, for example, Lord Norton blogged about how quickly rumors spread throughout the House of Commons and House of Lords.

"We're trying to engage with younger people and people who may not be interested in politics," said spokesman Owen Williams. "We looked at YouTube because it appeals to people outside the political elite."

The videos will be shown on the Parliament channel that has existed for some time but has until now only been used to provide explanations about the Houses of Parliament's history and architectural quirks.

"We're hoping to have lots of viewers," Williams said. "We know the blog website has been successful, we had 6,000 views in the first few days and the audience has grown from there, so we're confident people will look at the channel."

He said the videos were paid for out of the Lords' information technology budget.

The programming will begin Friday morning at 0930 GMT.