The editor of The Sydney Morning Herald sent a lovely email a few days ago to let readers know there was an election in the wind and that the SMH team was all systems go for a May poll date. I felt like it completely missed the point.
Bevan Shields laid out the scenarios of a Labor or Coalition win, or a hung parliament. Above all, he lamented that neither side of politics would have solutions for the big questions of economic growth, productivity and declining living standards.
“Don’t hold your breath for compelling answers. The election race may be tight, and it will certainly be interesting. But it’s not going to be inspiring.”
Not. Going. To. Be. Inspiring. Uh oh, not again. Another campaign where both parties play it safe and effectively collude on what is and what’s not on the table for a big public debate — one that might be, dare one say, inspiring?
Stumbles and fumbles
Shields’ note is a classic in the media boss genre. While providing the standard grumble about the degraded state of Australian politics, he doesn’t mention the media’s role in driving down the level of public debate. Really, how can he bang on about ”uninspiring” political debate yet give Australia’s woeful political media a free pass?
As a reminder of how poor Australian election coverage has been let us go back to 2022 and count just some of the ways.
Gotcha #1: confronting a media scrum on the first full day of campaigning, Anthony Albanese was asked to state the unemployment rate and the RBA’s official cash rate. He didn’t answer the second question at all and fumbled on the answer to the jobless rate. That stumble on a classic gotcha question was replayed over and over and ended up derailing his first week of campaigning. At this point Albanese became known as “gaffe-prone” and not being on top of the detail. Around the same time a grinning Scott Morrison was having his hair washed in a Melbourne salon, in a photo op lapped up by the media.
Gotcha #2: still haunted by gotcha #1, weeks later Albanese “failed” to list all six points underpinning his NDIS plan. The Channel Nine reporter who bellowed out the gotcha question was lauded by a Nine colleague who tweeted that this was “journalism at its best”. That night, on Q+A, the ABC’s David Speers pursued Albanese over NDIS-gate like a terrier. In the way these non-issues cascade, Albanese was ridiculed further when it was “revealed” that the day after his media conference “gaffe” he had written extra notes on his NDIS briefing papers in case he was asked to explain his earlier gaffe. Around this time Morrison, shirt and tie askew, was heading a soccer ball for another compelling photo op at a public school.
Up an’ Adam
Adam Bandt fights back: when asked at the National Press Club to state the current wage price index — another gotcha with the cameras rolling — the Greens’ leader retorted: “Google it, mate!” Bandt had a reprimand for the gathered press pack which was by now addicted to the nitpicky, out-of-the-blue, meaningless question: “If you want to know why people are turning off politics, it’s because … you have an election that increasingly becomes this basic fact-checking exercise between a government that deserves to be turfed out and an opposition that’s got no vision.”
Bandt managed to articulate the fundamental problem afflicting how the travelling media pack covered the 2022 election. Ever on the lookout for a cheap headline, or a promo for the nightly news, journalism became nothing more than a shoddy content-creation exercise, divorced from anything that actually matters to the lives of voters — or indeed the competency of a government.
Balance of power
Apart from the daily gotchas, the last election demonstrated how the overall makeup of the Australian media renders any reasoned public debate impossible. With the Murdochs ready to savage Labor at any turn, why would Albanese take a chance on changes to negative gearing or to tax franking credits, both of which might make for a more equitable society? Why risk a public flogging during an election campaign, as the Murdoch bias is picked up by talkback radio, dominates the day, and is regurgitated on television news that night? Why pause for even a moment on backing AUKUS when any delay could be whipped up into a betrayal of the US alliance? At some point a jumped-up TV interrogator will demand a “yes or no, prime minister” on the News Corp issue of the day.
Equal measure
At the same time the ABC will move fully into its cowed and nervy mode when the election is called. The measuring machines will be out to ensure both sides are given equal airtime. Anxious executives will want to be sure that the Coalition, should it be elected, is given no cause to punish the ABC over perceived bias.
Is it any wonder the election will be “uninspiring”?
I boldly predict that nothing will change how the media covers this election because, despite the evidence, the Australian media — especially its lacklustre Canberra corps — never concedes that it’s part of the problem.
Unethical, cowardly, subservient journalists are the problem.
Totally agree
Also totally agree.
What an excellent summation of the current dire straits of Australia’s mainstream media – and so accurate, too! No wonder people are ‘turning off’ political reporting. We should really be becoming more engaged =- in the light of the debacle that’s currently on view in the Untied States of America.
Remember when Albanese, when there was still some hope for a government he would lead, promised a Murdoch Royal Commission, also petitioned for by half a million voters, but reneged the moment he achieved government? He’s continued to disappoint with his spineless small target strategy. No wonder the duopoly continues losing support while the Community Independents movement continues growing.
I think this is the great mistake – really just a variation on being cowed by bullies.
Labor needs to finally and forever realise that Murdoch will never give them a fair hearing, unless, of course, they adopt policy positions that are almost indistinguishable from his pets on the Coalition – which Labor has come perilously close to doing lately.
It would be better – perhaps as Keating might have at last tried to do – to state your case clearly and unapologetically, and stick to your guns, even if it means losing an election.
Given a little time, enough people tend to notice and at minimum respect you and your position and maybe even come to support it.
There comes a time when it’s better to die on your feet than to live on your knees.
True about Keating BUT then we got Howard instead ……. Enough said !!!!
Thank you David Hardaker. I stopped following daily political coverage some years ago because as a person who values well researched, thoughtful, respectful discussions about issues that affect our society, the gotcha media moments and ill-informed reactive style of journalism became less than useless; they became distressing. I can only assume it not only drives increasing disengagement but also drives thoughtful and intelligent people away from standing for parliament. I don’t know how the Teals and Independents endure it.
Loved your comment helen, and agree with you, however you’ve fallen for the media’s ‘ill-informed reactive style of journalism’ by calling the crossbench community independent MP’s the Teals. They don’t all have that colour in their campaigns
“I don’t know how the Teals and Independents endure it.
Yes Cate, please read Helens sentence again. I think that’s what Isabel meant too. Helen wasn’t calling other “other Independents” the same colour as the Teals at all. There are plenty of us as despairing as Helen.
Helen – I agree the mainstream media has failed us. However you will find well researched, thoughtful, respectful discussions about issues that affect our society in the Independent media – Michael West, Crikey, The Klaxon – to name a few.
Could not agree more. And ditto for the Budget coverage. Stand by for “what’s in it for me” as the main point of the coverage. Almost nothing about what’s good for the country.
Shields is exactly they type of journo who should never be making decisions about editorial. and one of many reasons I stopped subscribing to SMH. Thank goodness for The Politics
It is also cringe worthy to see the so called political analysts repeatedly asking questions that are mainly taken from the talking points of the political parties eg. the $275 reduction in energy prices promise (something that should never have been stated because it was based on modelling) instead of asking about the progress/plans for the future of energy provision in Australia. It suggests that there is no analysis or understanding of the issues by the journalist just superficial “get a headline” approach.
Yes, for all my bombast, I do agree that the one sensible lesson to learn and follow is not to make silly promises that will be turned back on you, no matter how unfairly, such “There will be no carbon tax…” and the electricity savings you cited.
Of course this doesn’t apply if you are the Coalition (no cuts to the ABC, no cuts to SBS, etc.) as you will be able to get away with whatever you like.
I think it’s up to us as reasonably informed citizens to call out bad journalism and especially ‘gotcha’ questions. We should be quick to contact editors and CEOs when journalists treat their readers/watchers with this sort of contempt.
Well said David. I can’t help feeling the creeping commercialisation of the ABC , including the News, has contributed to what seems to be the pre-emptive buckle in the face of any criticism, especially from the Muckraker rags., not to mention the quality of the reporting and failure to pick up stupid mistakes. Last night we were told F1 winner Oscar Piastri ‘crashed out’ of the previous week’s race when he went wide, got in the grass and couldn’t get out.
I take a slightly different stance. I look at the cast-iron, uncrackable political bias of the ultra-right-wing news organisation ( did someone say Murdock, the Australian, the Sydney Telegraph, ahhh . . . ), and I simply avoid reading or listening to their new coverage and hence they don’t get to confront me with their opinions and hence their advertising which really stands for their income and profits. They miss out all the way round.
Remember the $750m payout that Murdock made before a particular trial even began in the USA so that the lie would never publicly come out about the stolen US Presidential Election.
As someone once said on TV, if you find a copy of the Australian or the Sydney Telegraph left in a cafe or on a bus or somewhere on a park bench, do the right thing and put it in the bin where it belongs.
The only time we should buy any Murdoch newspapers is when we need something to start the BBQ with.
or wrap a dog turd.
Despite a third of the electorate voting for someone other than the two biggest parties, we will be subjected to ‘presidential’ style coverage with a daily he said,he said and precious little voice for other candidates or non aligned informed views.
thanks again David, for pointing out the paucity of journalists questions to pollies at election time.
I hope there will be lots more questions about pig picture items, like the climate crisis, how major parties should not continue to be dominated by the fossil fuel lobbyists – state capture on steroids!
and how Australia can extricate itself from a dangerous , destabilising, and totally discombobulating alliance with the U.S….ask them about scrapping AUKUS, over and over again, until some chinks appear, as they must for anyone who is paying attention. as Leonard Cohen so eloquently put it, the “cracks are where the light gets in”
Exactly right! They also keep trying to downplay the Community Independents (which they continue to call ‘teals’ trying to pretend it’s a party in disguise) and fail to recognise the real change and hope they’ve brought to the jaded duopoly politics. Yet, these Community Independents, with their grassroots organisation and support, are about to make things further interesting. Like Kate Hulett in Fremantle who came so close to toppling the sitting Labor minister and member in the state election now continuing her campaign in the federal election.
An excellent article. Thank you David. The 4th Estate (media) is a main player and assists in creating its own reality.
And the articles in the Age which continue to push the Teals for a statement of their policies pre election, leaves me speechless. Our last minority government worked so well with many policies passing.
Unless and until the media develops that “old stlye” of reporting and analysis, we are left to hunt for decent, informative, well researched articles on the internet.
The media (particularly the Murdoch rags) are in my opinion is the cause of most of the problems in the western world, what can be done about them and by whom is another question.
Sadly, the article is dead right. Between the Murdoch journobots and the Nine etc folk auditioning to join them, there’s nothing resembling balance. The ABC tries, but its fairness requirements mandate at least equal time for the pretend journos whose role it is to produce advertising for their master’s preferred party.
A reader needs to look hard for something that even pretends to listen to both sides. It’s worth paying for Crikey and the Saturday Paper, but not everyone can.
There are serious issues with the mainstream media, but a wholesale condemnation is unfair. Murdoch yes is a write-off and the ABC can and should do better, but there are serious journalists in the Nine group and The Guardian who do the hard yards. It’s a matter of filtering and discernment on what you choose to consume. Let us not forget that a large part of the electorate is either disengaged or hostage to social media fed on gotchas.
Also…..Try The Saturday Paper and the Monthly . Excellent trusted journalists and fact based reporting
David, I think you have part explained why alternative sources like Pearls & Irritations continue to grow.
“You’re asking the wrong question…. Let me say this…….” But the pollie better have some strong interesting points to make- something about direction of the journey and not falling over the single rock on the road.