Trust, balance and agency
In January 2023 the political commentariat and media were concerned how the National Party must not be allowed to sleepwalk to victory in the October 2023 election with hardly any policy details to show for themselves.
There was some comment that the “small target” centred around being deliberately vague about policy and repeating a load of slogans by the National Party was a deliberate strategy.
Some lamented an emptiness and superficiality while others accused Luxon of lacking principle – but one thing is for sure – at that stage Labour and National were not far apart in the polls so these sorts of concerns about sleep walking to victory were premature, but regardless – National had been granted “the agency” by NZ Media.
They were going to win and therefore it was National who media focused on and listened to most.
I can recall Luke Malpass ( great mate of Atlas Network’s Oliver Hartwhich ) writing that Labour had lost the agency while National Party headlines dominated media.
Backdrops of Christopher Luxon took centre stage behind Simon Dallow on TVNZ 1 News as the PM was shoved to one side – and nearly every night we listened to Luxon and Seymour get the lion’s share of coverage – while Chippy and James Shaw were edited down to a single sound bite.
Luxon and Seymour were celebrated as Politicians of the Year ahead of Dame Jacinda Ardern by the NZ Herald and then it was Winston who took the crown according to the NZ Herald.
Complaints about balance fell on deaf ears at the BSA and formerly calm New Zealanders reported shouting at their TV sets and reaching the decision not to watch the news anymore.
Something rotten was happening across NZ Media as we watched footage of RAM RAIDs being hauled out and replayed the second or third time – while Luxon coached us and media agreed grimly a few nights a week.
Media refused to haul up Luxon for saying Government Spending was the main driver of inflation, and this lack of interest in factually incorrect sloganeering carried on through the election all the way to today.
Nicola Willis was celebrated as a financial wizard and of course her “how big is his hole” remarks were a great reason to love her even more while Chris Bishop was one of the lads with his cricket bat and cap.
Jessica was dismayed that TVNZ had tried to get Luxon to perform more circus tricks after boxing and flipping burgers and she told other Press Gallery reporters we “really have to get to know him”.
Strangely – while Chippy was meeting Xi Jinping – the Press Gallery gathered around an unnamed source who claimed Kiri Allen had once raised her voice a few years ago – and Andrea Vance published damning articles to haul her down.
The really suspicious media pattern here was the media pile ons surrounding a continuous serial drip feed of four Labour Ministers being hauled up for things that mostly happened a year or two ago – starting with Nash, then Michael Wood, then Jan Tinetti, then Kiri Allen.
Curiously the serial parade seemed staged four months out from an election and suspicion seemed justified that this was National’s Dirt Unit feeding the media who were only too eager for the eyes and ears.
Media published Mug Shots of the Ministers like they were unwanted criminals…multiple times.
Hearings at the privileges committee were made lead news on TVNZ 1 News in the manner of witch trials as Gerry, Simeon Brown and Michael Woodhouse ( Toilet seat ) accused Jan – unlike when National’s Tim van de Molen made threatening moves at Labour’s Shannon Halbert…a minor story and now the weather etc.
It took media five weeks in the run up to the election to report that National’s deception about $250 per week ( fortnight ) in tax relief only applied to 3,000 people…all that time not one journalist across all of NZ’s media did the analysis and it was left to the vilified CTU to point out the salient facts.
I could go on and on describing the picture ( I have not even mentioned Newstalk ZB ) – but safe to say – if National were riding on a wave of post pandemic resentment – it had been greatly amplified by our media as if they were one team working together to change the government.
National had the agency according to the media and that meant centre stage for the Opposition.
Everyone noticed the cliff RAM Raid stories fell off just one day after the election and now bugger all is mentioned as if the election “solved that crisis”.
After the election Labour’s Helen White was harassed by media for only winning the Mt Albert seat over Melissa Lee by 18 votes – and she was portrayed as losing for winning under the circumstances.
Ginny Andersen was attacked by media for several nights based on hearsay from an anonymous disgruntled volunteer…and the list of these vicious headlines over bugger all – went on and on.
Who can forget the attacks on Poto Williams or against Marama or the horrible racism against Nanaia?
Meanwhile media think there is no problem here and I have been told by a news reader to my face that :
“You have to accept some criticism on your side”.
Yes no doubt Labour admits mistakes as do the Greens and TPM – but we are not talking about that – are we?
Part of the problem is media do not believe there really is a problem to be fixed.
See according to media – the problem is with the public not the media. They get this sort of thing from both sides so – they are perfect in the middle. No explanation nor case by case specifics required.
Yesterday Christopher Luxon “got away with” taking credit when it was not due about inflation falling to 4% and nobody in our media rounded up these behaviours from the Prime Minister on social media. Same can be said for his Finance Minister.
Holding Government to account does not extend to what they actually say on social media.
Last night Kim Baker Wilson ran a story with no comment from Labour nor the Greens nor TPM about unleashing loan sharks on vulnerable people in a massive departure from pre-election coverage.
Many of you noticed the “zero balance” immediately and there was an outcry on several social media pages.
Perhaps Media will now make amends and get the Opposition to comment – so that complaints to the BSA can be easier to dismiss?
As you know all of this has been carrying on against a backdrop of falling media revenue and plummeting trust in media to tell us the whole story.
Trust in media has fallen over this period by 9% from 42% to 33% and there’s no stopping the decline it seems.
On the one hand we are sympathetic to people losing their jobs and to be fair – there have been occasions on TVNZ 1 News and NewsHub recently where the Government have had strips taken off them and so they should.
If balance in media is determined by the polls and “agency” then perhaps this is a curable self created convention that media can attend to?
In January 2024 Thomas Coughlan declared that Labour risk being irrelevant – which seemed like a suggestion as the headline boasted that National were “soaring” in one poll because it was only 2% higher than the previous poll.
Chippy came in for criticism from John Campbell for not barking at every passing car a couple of months ago – but then when the time was right and job cuts were happening – he stepped up and gave a powerful speech that rallied the troops.
We also saw fire from Chlöe and Chippy in parliament which never makes the news nor analysis in any media – as we all sit here reading this summarised account cos it is now the same old story in New Zealand.
Can somebody fix it?
Trust, balance and agency
Morena
G 🙂
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