http://www.thepunch.com.au/author-bios/laura-ryan/ Laura Ryan originally had a life and happily worked in PR and communications for the Australian War Memorial and Department of Health but gave it all up to work for the Rudd and Gillard Governments. During that time she was Press Secretary to Nicola Roxon and Alan Griffin.  Despite being a staunch defender of Canberra and its green leafy parks, she has reclaimed her life and moved to Sydney to work in corporate communications.  She likes wearing tracky dacks and buying her Cavaliers the latest fashions from Paris. en Copyright 2012 The Punch penberthyd@newsltd.com.au penberthyd@newsltd.com.au Sat, 26 May 2012 20:00:49 +0000 Sat, 26 May 2012 20:00:49 +0000 Politics, opinion, world news, sports news, latest news, views, Barack Obama, Kevin Rudd, Julia Gillard, Nathan Rees, Malcolm Turnbull, Peter Garrett, Barnaby Joyce, Australian, federal politics, opinion polls, election, The Punch, thepunch, punch ExpressionEngine 1.6.7 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss 15 http://www.thepunch.com.au/images/punch-logo-rss.png http://www.thepunch.com.au/ 144 70 Politics, political opinion, world news, sports news and the latest news and views updated live, daily on The Punch - Australia's best conversation. Search The Punch keywords http://www.thepunch.com.au/search/ http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/we-are-all-to-blame-for-the-dumbing-down-of-politics/ Sex and alcohol used to be the weapons of choice if you wanted to attract fellow uni students to a meeting.  The ad industry has known for decades that sex sells.  And now we have the internet to tell us in even more precise detail just how attractive humans find sex, scandals or booze – preferably all three. So should we be surprised that, as Lindsay Tanner’s new book Sideshow highlights, the media don’t love good policy, but they simply adore “sexy” stories?  feedback@thepunch.com.au (Laura Ryan) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/we-are-all-to-blame-for-the-dumbing-down-of-politics/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/we-are-all-to-blame-for-the-dumbing-down-of-politics/#item5780 Mon, 09 May 2011 19:55:26 +0000 Laura Ryan | Author bios | The Punch