We don’t talk about Journos
We don’t talk about Journos
They say Albo’s off to a rough start, we should look at the journalists
We must take note that the reason the Prime Minister and his government, laden with scandal and beleaguered by poor performance and mismanagement, is still in contention this election, has a large part to do with Australia’s media coverage.
In 2017 we were having the semblance of a debate over the NEG and a realignment to a new global environment under Trump, and despite that public pledge of allegiance, Scott Morrison was part of a party coup that saw the LNP replace the Prime Minister for the first time in living memory. The broad church was straining under the pressure of an ideological divide that the party chose Morrison to repair. Today some in the party openly admit they got it wrong, yet not so much the press gallery.
In three short years since the fire and rain really started to make an impression, the tentpoles of the LNP have bowed under the bipolar pressure of political ideology and division allowed by Morrison, to a point where a swathe of the LNP, ranging from classic blue-ribbon moderates to the Deputy PM, have openly challenged the core fundamentals and integrity of their leader. The press, still, not so much.
If members of the LNP are openly displaying their discomfort with the PM and his leadership of this government, if they are openly denigrating him in the Senate, on the record, leaking texts and morphing into teal. Why has the press, certainly the public broadcaster, struggled to capture the important overall factor as it looks to analyse the facts and deliver a fair and balanced product in the interest of Australians to aid in the most important vote our post-war history?
It looked to be going the other way from the start. On the morning of the election announcement, with all journos waking to anticipate it, on the ABC, Pat Karvelas (Former The Australian) was filling the boots of the absent ‘Insiders’ chair. She directed some strange questions to Richard Marles, the deputy leader of the opposition. Karvelas had an opportunity, on the day of such an announcement, to ask some genuine questions on behalf of the nation. After a decade of LNP government, she was going to explore about the alternatives his potential government could provide, to do a service to the Australian public. As is her role at our ABC.
But instead it was a flurry of “gotchas” scrutinizing the viability of ALP policy announcements, some “how are you going to pay for it” style questioning, followed by an entire epoch at the end of the interview trying to strangely Game of Thrones Marles on his ambitions for some hypothetical and fanciful future ALP internal bloodbath. We, the viewership, sponsors of the ABC, were disappointed by this missed opportunity to inform us of our nations alternative following ten years of a failing government.
Karvelas chose to pursue this line of questioning, seemingly uninterested in the possibilities of such an important interview, was unwilling or unable to create a space for her viewers beyond the ‘horserace journalism’ she learned down at the Murdoch stables. Her final thought before crossing over to election coverage was that Anthony Albanese didn’t know where government house was. No public interest journalism yet on the day of a highly anticipated election campaign.
Then it crossed to Gregg Jennett and Jane Norman to make sense of it all, flanked by the increasingly translucent Andrew Probyn (former Herald Sun), and all of a sudden it felt a little bit strange. The coverage truly felt like a poor coverage of a royal wedding, the hosts had less personability than Koshie and Nat, and all the ABC staff involved in the crosses, the motorcade filming, Matt Doran on the lawn and Casey Briggs with the new touch screen -- all of them were diminished by their involvement in this presentation.
Jennett, the ABCs dusty Copperart vase, spoke of the glorious Autumn sun dappled on the deciduous trees, he excited at the size of the Governor-Generals estate, mentioning the heroic turns, the names of the streets, and imagined the PM, fatefully guiding the nations future, solemnly performing his duty as our great statesman. Nek Minute, Albo patting ducks at the show in Adelaide.
Probyn genuinely tried to offer Jennett some “piddly” analysis, but he was having none of it, cutting the political chief to talk again of the autumn sun, the tea and scones, the 20 minutes of anticipation, and then he asked Doran if there were any “political tragics” that had joined the cookers who were disrupting the whole telecast in the background with loudspeaker and upside down flag aplenty. Even Probyn looked upset. No public interest journalism on that day.
Later that day, Albo got a couple of numbers wrong, and they tested their election algorithm, the entire apparatus reported it all day, the great News Corp craftsmen in situ and the ones on sabbaticals at the ABC all got to work divining the stars, extruding the stardust into the clip art echo chambers. On day one, David Lipson (former Sky news at ABC) and James Massola (Nine) reckoned Albos single “gaffe” could be the beginning of a hypothetical election loss, other full time corporates jumped a bit further, but that was to be expected from them on day one. Quite the day to behold.
How about a cheese platter metaphor, or a tie review on day two? Well, we got it. The week after Michael Towke spoke of the Stat Dec, that he wasn’t actually a strip club owning Moslem, all of this backed up after Fierravanti-Wells mic dropped in the senate. The press, from RN to 730 to Insiders who had imagined the essence of Kimberly Kitching on either sider of her funeral, for over three weeks, picked up the gaffe as the perfect segue. The talking heads played Cludo with Kitching’s cause of death, while in plain sight, you have Connie calling Scott Morrison a bully, Towke backing it up on national television, no posthumous revelations, just people whose opinions matter, fed up with this guy, telling us about it in real time.
While the party denigrate him in the open, the press trudges on. As members of the public confront him more frequently, with passion born from real desperation, and while they are escorted away – it all happens on the backdrop of a friendly press environment, the PM surrounded by dozens of journos, as uncomfortable and bewildered by the publics disappointment as he is. In between the endlessness of depravity seeping out of this government, the taxpayer greased early election campaign, and the hissing and warping emitting from the the LNP boiler-room, in spite of the intermittent friendly-fire from sections of party stalwarts about the genuine character of this PM, in light of that, the ABC still denies us our public interest.
The ABC can no longer orbit the gigantic corporate forces that wish to shred it into oblivion, driven by the commercial executives on board that seal its fate. The ABC must generate the standard, knowing it has wide support in this country, and maintain a presence that ensures the corporates have no choice but to moderate themselves in shame. The ABC should be training the best investigative journalists in the country and enforcing an elite standard of journalism that puts the tabloids to shame, not with the aid of ex-Murdoch talking heads driving the horse race and talking the odds on the few portals of truth left to all Australians.
Great read, and spot on. The last par hits the nail right on the head.
Probably explains why so many are abandoning the ABC, and why they spend half their time advertising their wares and sending us constant review questionnaires.
“Jennett, the ABCs dusty Copperart vase, spoke of the glorious Autumn sun dappled on the deciduous trees, he excited at the size of the Governor-Generals estate, mentioning the heroic turns, the names of the streets, and imagined the PM, fatefully guiding the nations future, solemnly performing his duty as our great statesman. Nek Minute, Albo patting ducks at the show in Adelaide.”
Very fine description of Jennett. Dog forbid he and Jane Norman ever hook up.
Cheers.
Just listened to RN Drive with Andy Park tonight and of course he interviews a Journalist from The Australian who said that the Albonese Gaff would not go away. Seriously this is another demonstration of the abject Journalistic failure in this country and regimes like North Korea must marvel at how a so called free society is captured in the style of one state media apparatus. We are lead by the most corrupt, incompetent and criminal Political party ever but you would never know it according to MSM Media. If labor win this election they must undertake a Royal Commission into Australian Media and how it serves the Australian community and all recommendations adopted, not to mention the complete sacking of the highly partisan ABC Board and senior management! Great article Joel so bloody spot on!