By Anna Whyte*
Opinion: Politicians and the media have always had a complicated relationship, and recently taking a swing at 'the media' has become somewhat of a political pastime. It's a tried and tested move. It's vague, provocative, and conveniently, it doesn't seem to require a follow-up plan.
A video from ACT leader David Seymour popped up on my Instagram feed while I was listening to birds chirping outside on a visit home to Motueka. The video is captioned: “Every day Kiwis ask me: ‘What are you going to do about the media?’ This proves exactly why.”
Seeing my head bobbing behind him in the video I wondered what we could have done that was so egregious to have warranted that caption. In the video, Seymour is surrounded by journalists responding to questions from RNZ regarding comments he made about the broadcaster.
The 43 second clip has Seymour saying: "...You guys tried to get an expert to try and criticise me, and the best they could come up with was, oh, he's broken the spirit of the rules."
"The only thing any of you guys have asked me a question about, except with respect to Herald asking about Kiwibank... What we have heard about is an interview I did on a show two weeks ago that wasn't reported for a week, and now you'd still like to talk about it. Kind of proves my point about why every day I get people asking me, what are you going to do about the media? Every day."
It is important to note that the deputy Prime Minister is, and always has been, extremely generous in giving his time to media. The press conference in question on May 12 was almost six minutes, and subsequently also covered the fees free policy, the new Te Tai Tokerau Party, the Election and if the Budget had been signed off. This is far from any type of criticism, and this clip is just one of many on a multitude of topics on his social media account.
Seymour is one of the first MPs down in what we call ‘bridge run’, where ministers and party leaders walk through the media pack on the way into Parliament. He answers every question and will almost always make sure to come back for the second bridge run. That’s not like all MPs, many who don’t seem to see the less than 10 minutes on sitting days as a priority.
The time politicians give to media is important because the public can't just ask their MPs questions whenever they want to as they have jobs and lives and their own problems, so that’s why the Press Gallery are there.
Despite what politicians like to say, people read, listen and watch stories that the Press Gallery produces.
Every decision made in that building has some sort of effect on a New Zealander - some small, and some that literally change lives. The public deserve to know what is being decided and debated in Parliament, via a range of different media outlets - not just one and they certainly deserve better than to live in a media vacuum flooded with content straight from politicians' social media accounts.
That's not to say journalists shouldn't be held accountable, we have the privilege of having a platform that many people don’t have. That’s why we have checks and balances, organisations like the Media Council and getting ripped into online or to our face if we get things wrong.
The public can choose to switch off the news or skip opening an article, they can disagree with a story and move on. But they can't choose to opt out of their taxes or the laws that govern their lives. There are only 123 people in New Zealand privileged enough to get the final say on both.
Politicians can say what they want about the media - that's fair, they're on the end of it a lot of the time. But, perhaps, it wouldn't hurt once in a while for them to reflect on the bigger picture.
From the journalists overseas risking their lives, such as Lisette Reymer's harrowing reporting from the war in Ukraine, to today - a pensioner's $85 parking fine waived for mistakenly parking for 16 minutes prior to a medical appointment after Stuff started asking questions. It shouldn't take media intervention to right wrongs, but in a lot of cases, it does.
So, what are politicians going to 'do about the media'? Are they going to treat it like any other sector, one with real workers, real pressures, with global platforms profiting from local content?
Or is it all just talk for a few social media likes?
Regardless, I know what I'm going to do 'about the media.' I'm going to keep doing my job.
*Anna Whyte chairs the Parliamentary Press Gallery.
2 Comments
Suggest the thrust of the criticism is the quality, intelligence and integrity of the reporting and certainly it is not intended to include journalists who respect and maintain those standards. Obviously today headlines are the flying banner of any sort of news outlet and the compilation of them are too often intentionally over graphic and actually misconstrue the actual facts, and the article itself follows suit. Those sort of hasty submissions smack of competitiveness amongst journalists to own a headline and thus a culture of self interest emerges. A good example of that culture was for example abundantly displayed during the pandemic. When PM Ardern at her first address at her soon to be famous podium, with the whole nation watching and waiting for the policy and direction that would affect everybody, the very first question from the attendant media was something like -how much is the media’s assistance package going to be, and when are we going to start getting it. On a final note go back and see how the late great Dame Tariana Turia was so accomplished in dismissing superficial jounalists.
Its everywhere
Beheading nek minit Stabbing
I had just watched the video then heard about the "stabbing" on Newstalk.
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