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Public pays the price as politics spins out of control

David Penberthy

by David Penberthy

17 Oct 06:00am

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Filed under: John Faulkner, Labor Party, Nsw Labor, Press Secretaries, Rodney Cavalier, Spin, Spin Doctors

55 comments

A couple of years ago in one of his excellent machine-gun sprays Paul Keating lamented the emergence of a new class of political leaders who wouldn’t get out of bed in the morning unless they had focus group research telling them to do so.

Moving forward…Julia Gillard at a press conference in Canberra. Photo: Getty Images

The jibe was aimed at the thinness and timidity of what was then the Kevin07 juggernaut. This new political glibness was again in evidence during this year’s campaign, reaching a low point with Julia Gillard’s “moving forward” slogan, a catchline so dead in meaning that The Real Julia had it euthanased.

The debate over the rise of focus groups, spin and message management in modern politics is now being conducted vigorously within the ALP.  Labor heavyweight John Faulkner used this week’s launch of the excellent book by former NSW Minister Rodney Cavalier on the shambles that is NSW Labor to take aim at what has been called “the NSW disease‟.

Faulkner describes this as “the churn and burn of political leaders, the perceived short-term focus on polling and the relentless tactical battle for day-by-day advantage in the media, and the endless, constant, politics of spin.”

“It is no secret modern Labor is struggling with the perception we are very long on cunning, and very short on courage. We are struggling with the perception we are wholly and solely driven by polling and focus groups.”

The adjunct of this focus group culture is the obsession with staying “on message” and the best way to stay “on message” is to use public money to create an army of press secretaries to parrot the line of the day.

It is less than 30 years since political parties had just one or two press secretaries seconded to the leader’s office.

Today, the parliamentary secretary for agriculture won’t sit down for a chat with The Stock Journal unless he’s armed with a press release and accompanied by a post-pubescent communications graduate who’s watched too much West Wing.

As today’s investigation in this newspaper shows, the culture of spin is now running unchecked. The public hates it. The public also funds it.

One very important self-critical point though. The media can complain about this new culture but it is also complicit in it.

Reporters should be reminded that press secretaries are not a substitute for contacts, and that you can’t simultaneously complain about the rise of spin doctoring if you’re prepared to subsist journalistically on a diet of press releases, and take a string of government-authorised dot-points as a substitute for independent analysis of the very policies which affect people’s lives. 

Most commented

431Australia, you have nothing to fear but fear itself
390There's no one Thomson won't burn to save his skin
336Animal experiments won't cure me from cancer
313Thomson didn't answer the question everyone is asking
265Who murdered the Arts degree?
246A big day for Thomson, who thus far is guilty of nothing...
231Craig Thomson speaks. Meanwhile, in Australia...
231South Australia. It's the middle bottom bit.

55 comments

Show oldest | newest first

    • cok-on-the-hill says:

      06:42am | 17/10/10

      Penburthy, you’ve hit the nail on the head with this one, now get all your mates to practise it.

      Reply

    • John C says:

      06:50am | 17/10/10

      Gillard’s best ever spin - We are not going to spin any more.

      Labor needs to get rid of Bruce Hawker to whom they have sold their soul.. Faust is alive and well in the ALP.

      Reply

    • Fog Badger says:

      05:02pm | 17/10/10

      I’m right with you, John, regarding the dumping of Bruce Hawker. I truly believe he is primarily responsible for the appalling spin we are subjected to.

    • Faz says:

      06:52am | 17/10/10

      “The media can complain about this new culture but it is also complicit in it.”

      Fairly charitable admission about your side of the equation, Pembo. It’s more than ‘complicity’, you’re in it up to your neck. The press is an equal partner in this game and feeds the beast as much as the ‘spinners’.

      How many journos do stints as press secretaries?

      Also, how many of the better know hacks look to BE the news rather than just report it?

      Final question: What are you going to do about it, Pembo?

      Reply

    • PaulB says:

      09:11am | 18/10/10

      Certainly the case in the US that alternative/online/citizen media has mushroomed in the vacuum left by the abandonment of ethics for money and influence by the so-called “Mainstream” media.

    • Agasinst the Man says:

      07:04am | 17/10/10

      Julia like Kevin is not a leader. She wants to have something for the history books but getting results for the working families of Australia is the least of the concerns. With such a leader are you surprised the parliamentary secretary for agriculture behaves in this manner?

      Reply

    • David says:

      07:57am | 17/10/10

      Ahh yes, bastion of fact-checking and citations, The Punch.

      Is this the new trend among paid political commentators to decry the standard of political journalism while doing nothing to raise it themselves?

      Reply

    • Daniel says:

      09:30am | 17/10/10

      Both the major parties are obsessed with focus groups and soin doctors. They should be more concerned with good policies.

      Reply

    • Against the Man says:

      12:26pm | 17/10/10

      Daniel if the ALP hasn’t been concerned with good policy in the last few years re:healthcare, home insulation, asylum seekers, global warming etc do you really think they will start doing that now? Gillard and co will drive us into the ground, it has already begun.

    • Daniel says:

      08:54pm | 17/10/10

      Againsttheman,
      Give Gillard a go. I know Labor is rotten to the core. She must be given a chance though. With the help of us Greens she will be showed the way.

    • Mick says:

      10:53am | 18/10/10

      Daniel
      Your right, we should give them a chance.  And when the Labour/Greens alliance destroys our economy, at least we will be able to euthanize ourselves.

    • Veron says:

      01:10pm | 18/10/10

      ATM you seem to be all over the place complaining about Gillard. I believe in just picking one area and hoping to get some sort of result, that would make me happy. I have kids and a sick parent, I’ve been exposed to the shabbles of the health care system in 2 states (NSW/SA) in both rural and city hospitals. I’ve been waiting for the ‘buck stops with me’ Rudd promises to give us some resonable health care but nothing has changed and in fact things are slightly worse (waiting time, hospital infrastructure, staffing levels). Gillard and Roxon have had more than enough time to fix health, they have failed. Forget about the other issues, just fix health and I will be pleased but I don’t think Gillard has what it takes to fix this or any other problem. ALP = Fail

    • Wayne Fehlhaber says:

      10:14am | 17/10/10

      Queensland is one of the Australian state’s leading Spin Spenders . The Bligh government runs up a massive bill of $42 million per year on public service media advisers and political spin doctors .
      $30 million of that bill goes on retaining 350 media and public relations staff
      in 13 differrent departments.
      Just how much the media itself contributes to this spin culture is anyone’s guess , but i have no doubt that they play their part in this taxpayer funded drain on the public purse .
      I know of hospitals in my area where $42 million could be well spent rather than going largely to getting the governments political messages out.

      Reply

    • Steve Putnam says:

      05:11pm | 17/10/10

      Wayne—- blind in one eye as usual! The Howard Government spent more on its GST campaign (which told us nothing about the new tax) than the ALP spent in its entire 13 years in government. Not content with resting on its laurels it exceeded that amount by spending over $100 million to advertise Workchoices . This despite the fact that it made no mention of Workchoices during the 2004 election campaign.
      Of course the upside to the latter outrage was the removal of John Howard from the Parliament when the voters of Bennelong gave voice to their outrage at his profligacy and downright dishonesty.

    • Gregg says:

      01:01am | 18/10/10

      I would not be too concerned with even a billion spent by Howard Steve compared to the wastage of Krudd and Gillard and their relative ineffectiveness which has cost this country many billions already and will be taking us further into the doldrums with the help of the Greens/Independents via programs such as their BER, Insulation fiasco, NBN Mega Fiasco, Resources Tax and inability to even do something constructive about water so as we’ve also got state labor governments blowing even further billions on desalination plants when there should be more dams going in that could also create environmental power via hydro units.
      Just wait a bit and see how many power shortages there will be with ageing coal fired power stations falling over.
      The Howard government was left a massive debt by the previous Labor government and the same thing is happening right now except it is being racked up to a higher level and quicker.

    • Christian Real says:

      06:21am | 18/10/10

      Steve Putnam
      Wayne, has plenty to say,but all he has to offer in these blogs is attack, he is person like the diatribe he write,without substance.
      Wayne claims he knows of hospitals in his area where $42 million could be well spent, but he does not back up his source of information.
      One could only guess that Wayne, is just echoing this message from the Liberal party masters that he idolises.
      I peruse the same local newspaper and live in the same area as Wayne does, and,if $42 million could be well spent on hospitals as claimed by Wayne, I am surprised that the local News Paper (Fraser Coast Chronicle)  aren’t leading the charge to highlight this fact.

    • Reg says:

      08:25am | 18/10/10

      I don’t care how much you give me to spend on hospitals Wayne, I’ll find somewhere to spend it. Facts please, enough with your mother-hood garbage. Where the f*** is this Fraser Coast anyway? Never heard of it.

    • Gregg says:

      09:18am | 18/10/10

      That’s a bit ignorant of you Reggie, not knowing where Whales frolic and Midgies and people in one of Gods waiting rooms peacefully co-exist.
      Even Saint Mary has been doing her trick saving kittens and giving a helping hand so as an old skeleton can find a peaceful resting place.
      http://www.frasercoastchronicle.com.au/
      Seems as though we do need to pray more the dingo though and for Anna Bligh to be giving some tough love medicine instead of selling of the farm like follow the leader or leaders not.
      http://www.frasercoastchronicle.com.au/
      Think Fraser Island if that helps, a 100 km.+ from Brisbane to southern tip.
      Brisbane is about 100 km. north of NSW/Queensland border and NSW is kind of in the middle of the east coast of Australia and the only difference between a scunging piece of Maccas synthetic meat that didn’t get mouldy after six months is that NSW is apparently so mouldy the mould is growing across the border.
      But Fraser Island is still not a bad spot to sit in the cool of a forest near a cool perched lake and contemplate your navel.

    • Gregg says:

      09:27am | 18/10/10

      I suppose what Wayne could be referring to Christian is the great discrepancy between ratios of hospital beds to population you will find when moving from a city to rural regions and then if you look at the services the more elderly may require and the what the % of population is that is getting on in years.
      The problem is well reflected in the number of people from areas like Hervey Bay and including Gympie, Maryborough, Bundaberg and further afield that have to travel to Brisbane for medical care.
      And it is not just improved hospitals by also the medical practitioner availability that needs addressing and yes, I know, Ms Roxon rocks on and tells us how all will be well with more new graduates! 
      You’ll believe it when you see them up the coast and in the bush.
      Just ask Bob Katter!

    • Tom says:

      10:30am | 17/10/10

      To summarise the article, “Politicians manipulate the journos by offering them scoops in return for the journos bull-sh***ing the gullible public.”

      There is more to it though:
      1. Our journos are vaccuous and lazy.
      2. Our media is driven by the need to entertain rather than inform.
      3. The public are so stupid they believe “budgie smugglers” are as important as corruption, incompetence and deviancy in our politicians.

      Reply

    • Wayne Fehlhaber says:

      06:57pm | 17/10/10

      Tom :  I agree wholeheartedly , just read , if you can stomach the garbage , Christian Real’s comments for confirmation of what you are saying.

    • Christian Real says:

      06:05am | 18/10/10

      Wayne Fehlhaber
      How dare a radical ratbag imbecile like you attack the truth I have written in my other blogs.
      The only garbage is coming from you Wayne and pathetic Liberal party that you support.
      I have backed up my comments Wayne in my blogs, The On line media newspapers, the writers of the news stories,  and the date they were published, but you have failed to back up anything you write about, all that you are ever capable of is attacking the truth like the party that you so narrow-mindedly support with your tunnelled visioned diatribe.
      What I don’t get from the online newspapers, I research it from the internet.
      How a well known Fraser Coast Regional Councillor ever got you to ghost write for him, I’ll never know.

    • Jade says:

      06:28am | 18/10/10

      Aaah to true, unfortunately…

    • Christian Real says:

      06:38am | 18/10/10

      Wayne Fehlhaber
      I have sourced my comments that you attack,ridicule and attempt to pull apart, from online newspapers and from the internet, have you sourced or verified yours?
      The only garbage Wayne, is coming from you, and I certainly hope that you don’t write this kind of diatribe for the well know Fraser Coast Regional Councillor that I have heard that you Ghost Write for.

    • Reg says:

      07:52am | 18/10/10

      Once again Wayne’s patch is getting in the way.  The Liberal’s taxpayer funded advertising in return for favourable comment in national and local papers, shall stand forever as a monument to the scurrilous ethics of the Howard government.  NEXT!

    • Fiddlesticks says:

      10:42am | 17/10/10

      Without some hard, sourced information from around the country to compare with, it is impossible for Fehlhaber to justfiy his empty assertion “Queensland is one of the Australian state’s leading Spin Spenders”.

      And that’s leaving aside the empty idea that the media staff of all Depts, Federal or State, are merely spinning for Party purposes.

      Not to mention the plain fact that State and Fed Depts advertise policy and programs for *whatever* the Government of the day needs to pass on to the electorate. *Whatever* Party/Parties they are from.

      Fehlhaber - misinformation master.

      Reply

    • Reg says:

      08:29am | 18/10/10

      “Fehlhaber - misinformation master.” Also known as SPIN.

    • Aitch B says:

      11:04am | 17/10/10

      Once again the Vics win!!

      Over 700 media advisors at a cost of more than $70 million with the Dumb… er Brumby ALP government. However, to be fair I expect that a Liberal government wouldn’t be much different…. if at all.

      Bloody ridiculous!

      Reply

    • Paddy says:

      07:33am | 18/10/10

      and to show their appreciation they each pay 5% of their salary to the ALP as a donation for getting the employment position. Corruption at its finest.

    • Mike Bolan says:

      11:16am | 17/10/10

      Several additional symptoms are also emerging.

      1) So-called leaders do not represent community opinion, or even communities. They represent the party and its financiers.

      2) Labor cannot get anything done. They do not have the talent or skills to achieve outcomes and are reduced to promising, then explaining why it didn’t happen.

      3) Services are degrading while costs escalate. Ordinary Australians cannot afford the bills presented by 3 tiers of self-interested governments.

      4) Politicians and bureaucrats exempt themselves from the public’s problems by using our money to escape to private and safer systems such as health and dentistry. Hence they do not suffer the consequences of their own decisions but we do.

      Australia is collapsing into a social engineering Supreme Soviet style bureaucracy with impoverished populations supporting rich bureaucrats and politicians who use their position to favour themselves and exempt themselves from the problems suffered by the rest of us.

      Reply

    • Andy D says:

      02:47pm | 17/10/10

      How about the brilliant piece of anti-spin on Friday night from Bob Ellis?

      After describing Tony Abbott as someone who has “...a lack of arrogance, a willingness to listen, a capacity to struggle with his own beliefs.” Ellis, speech writer for Bob Carr and Paul Keating, all round Labor icon, was asked his opinion of Julia Gillard. His response…

      “Gillard makes a mistake every three days and will not last - has five or 15 months in her. Nobody is speaking of the Gillard era. She should be there for 20 years logically, but she will not. She has a kind of political tone deafness whereas Tony has a political acuteness. He hears, he listens; she doesn’t.”

      Reply

    • stephen says:

      04:56pm | 17/10/10

      Agreed, generally speaking.
      Tony is wrestling with something, and it isn’t the electorate.
      He will last.
      (Probably should talk to Bob.)
      No, not Ellis, Hawke.

    • Gran Depine says:

      02:48pm | 17/10/10

      Isn’t it about time that all Members of Parliament have a consensus on the definition of particular words used during Parliament time, Press releases and public question and answers. For example, wouldn’t the world in real Australia be logical and full of common sense if every new elected MP could post on their official website (and signed before a witness) their respective definitions for words and terms such as: failure, misrepresentation, spin doctor, Dorothy Dicks question, budget surplus, budget deficit, mandate, lie, mis truth, successfully completed, all bets are off, scrutiny, inquiry, investigation, many more including focus group.

      I guess I am asking too much

      Reply

    • Robert Smissen, rural SA, God's own country says:

      04:02pm | 17/10/10

      Penbo, there was a time that journos could use the English language like a sword, now most of them can’t construct a sentence. The current crop of psuedo journos are spoon fed press releases & will present them as their own work, if you are that lacking in ethics why would it bother them? ? In South Australia in 1966 the population reache 1,000,000, the premier’s department had a staff of 3 including the premier, the state was prosperous & most people had a FULL TIME job. 44 years on population around 1.6million, the premier’s department has a staff of 1,000s with access to faxes, mobile phones, computers (not available in 1966) SA is the mendicant state, so what do you think went wrong? ? ?

      Reply

    • Reg says:

      08:03am | 18/10/10

      Just looking at it from the obvious point of view, I’d say three people per million was distinctly understaffed, with no hope of anyone being heard. That would have pretty effectively reduced any need for action “this minute.”

    • Robert Smissen, rural SA, God's own country says:

      01:38pm | 18/10/10

      Reg, or you could say that they were efficient because they didn’t spin it, just got on with the job at hand

    • Lisa H. says:

      04:11pm | 17/10/10

      The media seems incredibly complicit in the arrangement. Each outlet mindlessly follows the leader, which in most cases is simply the latest parliamentary press release.

      The Labor party has mud-throwing down to a fine art. They are all too happy to point out the speck in the opposition’s eye, to avoid the plank in their own.
      It is a skill the political game-players picked up in their student uni days.
      I didn’t like student politics then, and I don’t like it now.

      The game-playing at this level is at least partly a reflection of the poor level of political commentary we have in this country. Also of our social-democratic public service culture.

      Can we blame our British inheritance? All the go-getters went to the US, it seems.

      Reply

    • Reg says:

      08:19am | 18/10/10

      Lisa have you asked yourself whether the media are there to report the news or to simply make it up?

      Omission or selective reporting is making it up. But don’t blame the journalists, they come from the same generation whose concentration span doesn’t extend beyond the mandatory seven seconds or 10 words.

      As I mentioned when chastising Wayne somewhere else, the Liberal Party relegated to the editor of ever rag in Australia, the duty of constructing praise for their party.by simply offering to take out full page advertisements, all at taxpayer expense.  The leader-writers are LITERALLY in the pocket of the Liberal Party. Totally, completely and forever compromised. Thank God for the independence of the ABC.

    • Jim says:

      10:26am | 18/10/10

      Well you see Reg, it’s the one eyed, 3rd generation Labor supporters like you who simply cannot read a balanced article. As soon as something the ALP does is questioned, the entire publication is branded pro-Liberal, anti-Labor. Just accept the fact that Labor is a mess and get on with it! In fact, I see more political commentators leaning to the left - especially on Sky News.

      As to your last bit - independence and ABC should NEVER be put in the same sentence…it should change its name to TASS as all the ABC does now of a night is promote everything thats ALP/Green and blast anything LNP.

    • S.L says:

      05:53pm | 17/10/10

      I love how you journos can talk about spin Penbo. Whatever political party your editor supports gets the gong in the papers especially News LTD. Although the Maquarie radio network is catching up fast!

      Reply

    • Youdy beaudy says:

      05:59pm | 17/10/10

      What we need is a benevolent dictator and that will fix it up. I’ll run for the Job if you need someone who will feed the countries money back to the people. I don’t need a palace to live in, I’ll stay where i am. So if you all think that that would be a solution then vote for Youdy for Benevolent Dictator. There would be a lot of good changes i can assure you.

      Reply

    • Ryan says:

      07:16pm | 17/10/10

      But we already have a “benevolent dictator”, her name is Julia Gillard.. although you could stab her in the back like she did to her mate Kev followed on with a solid stabbing in the back of the public with regards to “not fulfilling election promises” and “not introducing a carbon tax”.

    • Brad Donman says:

      06:31pm | 17/10/10

      Maybe this all comes down to a political apathy ,whereby our tolerance for politicians is so abrupt,that the message must be delivered succinctly in a 30 second media grab.It has been postulated that people make their mind up on any debatable issue in less than a minute,then start to create rationales for their new found belief.Some will more likely weigh up pros and cons for any issue,but the rest will be like sheep and just follow the mob,it,s safer and more secure. As for spin,there are leggies,offies and toppies,Clarrie Grimmett was once asked about a spinner and repliied….well he can certainly spin it ...but he can,t turn it.

      Reply

    • steve parker says:

      06:57pm | 17/10/10

      I long for the days of Keating. In SA I long for the days of Don Dunston one of the great visionaries of Australian politics. I long for the likes of Mick Young and sitting in the pub at Port Adelaide. I long for a bit of honesty or at least in your face politics that means something - a conviction. What have we got. Gillard, Arbib, Rann - a complete lack of clumsy depth - they couldn’t give a damn. Just look at Rann and Foley in SA - attacking the very people who form their very base - the vulnerable at the Parks, injured workers. How has it all come to this?

      Reply

    • Mayday says:

      07:55am | 18/10/10

      The knifing of Kevin Rudd is a solid example of the Westinghouse wash and spin cycle. The man was voted in on the Kevin 07 Labor Party platform and was voted in with a majority in his local seat.

      When Kev failed to operate in ‘the Labor way’  he was dumped, no thought to what was good for the country just what was good for the Labor Party.

      Reply

    • ABC says:

      08:04am | 18/10/10

      Penbo, perhaps you could include the link to the newspaper article you refer to in this post so people know what your talking about.

      Reply

    • Ray says:

      08:18am | 18/10/10

      That political journalists survive on press statements and govt dot points, instead of doing real analysis, appears to be a cyclical phenomenon. Back in Joh Bjelke Petersen’s day, he used to describe it as “feeding the chooks”.

      Reply

    • Steve Putnam says:

      06:47pm | 18/10/10

      Did Joh have a colorful phrase for accepting money offered to him in brown paper bags?

    • casba says:

      08:36am | 18/10/10

      Yes, I concur with all of the comments regarding the need to get rid of Bruce Hawker’s influence from the landscape of Australian politics.  What is only slightly more scarey than the inifluence of Hawker-Brittain itself, is the fact that Tony Windsor is Bruce Hawker’s first cousin!  No matter which way we turn, in terms of giving our support to one side of politics or opting for the other side, we are surrounded by the influence of these powerful media spin doctors! How did we ever get to this point but, more importantly, how are we going to drag ourselves out of their insidious control of the media spin?  We readers of The Punch have only got to look at our good friend and fellow correspondent, Persephone, to know how insidious their influence on mind manipulation is.  “She” suddenly disappeared off our radar here when Kevin Rudd was deposed but now that he is back in the fold so too is she, daily “spinning” from the office of the PM or that of the Foreign Minister, and expcecting us to believe she is just an “ordinary joe” with an interest in the future of this country just like the rest of us!

      Reply

    • Stephen says:

      08:57am | 18/10/10

      The media’s fixation on triviality and soap opera is the root cause of this problem.  The media will jump on any politician who dares to express a thought that isn’t 100.0000% in line with the leader.  To avoid that fate the politicians employ spin doctors to sanitise every word before its uttered.

      As Jim Hacker said in Yes Minister, “We’ve got to hang together, otherwise they’ll hang us separately”.

      Reply

    • Carl Palmer says:

      09:11am | 18/10/10

      Penbo, your two last paragraphs are refreshing observations which I can only hope permeates into and across your profession. Unfortunately, the public must also take some responsibility as we all at one point or another consume the verbal diarrhea dished up by the media and the politicians. We need to do our homework and perform our own research. 

      I wonder how much of Rodney Cavalier’s book could reflect on their federal counterparts. The ACT is surrounded by NSW so it was only a matter of time before they also caught “the NSW disease”.

      The lack of substance and strategy is pretty obvious and people do see thru it and turn off. If only they could translate that into what it means to them and their hip pocket. Somehow that seems to just pass everyone (most?)  by.

      Reply

    • Amber says:

      09:48am | 18/10/10

      Kevin Rudd is the best example of successful spin yet; they took an unappealing cadaver and made him palatable for the hungry-for-change,  Oz public.  Unfortunately in time he was exposed as the unsuitable person he was to run ANYTHING, and the Labor Party was left with a problem; typical of their short-aim strategies. Let’s grab power and worry about being able to actually DO anything, later…when it finally occurrs to the public, that they can’t.
      The Labor Party has replaced useful platforms with spin - because they have outlived their usefulness.

      Reply

    • Ben C says:

      11:27am | 18/10/10

      Until recently I couldn’t decide on who was the chicken or the egg on this issue. That ended with the 2010 Federal Election campaign. The way the 24 hour news cycle generated media coverage obsessed with ‘insider’ and politics ‘playbook’ content.
      Never mind the substance of the policy said, the press gallery were talking about the location of it’s release, who was with either Gillard or Abbott when they launched what, was it the right time to release the policy blah blah blah!
      You can’t blame political parties for putting all those journos on buses, but nobody forces them to be captured by the parties spin machines. They could always go get their own stories.
      Another hilarious illustration was Abbott winning plaudits for stepping down from a stage and talking to people like he was interested in them was bizarre - that used to be politics 101. Yet according to the media this was a momentous moment in the campaign. Who decided and why?
      The 24 hour cycle exposed the woeful ignorance of most many journalists even in the press gallery. This is why commentators such a Oakes are so influential. Not just because they have been around forever but because in the absence of their knowledge and insights so many other journalists copy these opinion leaders.
      The media is mainly to blame for the increasingly gross spin cycle and the degrading of our politics.
      Will our comments make it onto The Drum or the Paul Murray Program Oh My Gosh!!!!

      Reply

    • fairsfair says:

      04:34pm | 18/10/10

      I agree Ben it is a tad farcicle and just leads to people giving up even trying to maintain interest or remain informed our of sheer frustration. I watched Lozza interview Tony yesterday and I had to switch off. Irrespective of what question was asked, he gave the same question “it is my role as opposition leader to hold the government to account”. Why didn’t Oakes pull him up on it? Instead he seemed to simply enjoy sprouting out questions that made him look more intelligent (though he will always be Mole from Wind in the Willows in my mind). Why didn’t Tony just say, Laurie - why are you wasting my time here, I’ve got better things I could be doing.

      Instead you have a psuedo journalistic “god” trying to outsmart politician who has no intention of answering a question (and that is across the board, not just Tone). It was a waste of air time but apparently journalism and informative.

      I keep going back to the way that Kroeger spoke to Swan on election night. Party affiliations aside - that is how I want communication to be broached by the media. I want someone to go off at Jarna Vendt again. I want another punch up on the Midday Show. I want A Current Affair to be about current affairs. Demanding an answer to the hard questions and holding people to account for their errors - they f* up so bad they don’t deserve to have a question delivered to them with daisy chains.

 
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Cheeky beers with morning papers in unexpected sunshine http://t.co/MD7VPRne

Anthony Sharwood

antsharwood 26 May 12 01:27PM

http://t.co/Zq0nGxkf nice pic of Thredbo this morning

Paul Colgan

Colgo 26 May 12 12:52PM

@seamus yeah it's now called Smooth or Soft or Douchey Dad FM or something

Paul Colgan

Colgo 26 May 12 12:44PM

It's a Sydney thing, but 95.3FM... Why? It used to be all Bohemian Rhapsody and Walk this Way; now it's Father to Son and Country Road. Wah.

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