The media is the message
Among the many balancing acts of the campaign period is how much time to spend out and about meeting and speaking with people, and how much to spend on the sometimes futile and frequently frustrating task of trying to get media.
One good media story can reach a lot of people, whereas even a well attended public meeting like the housing forum on Monday will only have a couple of hundred people, some of who will already be very firm in their political allegiances. But the impact of directly communicating with someone is much stronger than via the media, and chasing media can take up a lot of time for not a lot of result sometimes. I also like the two way nature of communication that happens in the better public meetings.
After spending Monday at public forums, Tuesday was spent more on media, although as sometimes happens, almost all of it came through unsolicited approaches to me, rather than me chasing around seeking interviews or in response to a media release. It included some indigenous media and community radio interviews, a video interview for a political website, some news interviews for ABC radio, plus a 50 minutes stint (shared with two others) on Australia Talks on Radio National.
The Australia Talks segment was on the role of the Senate and balance of power. Given my concern that not enough focus is put on the Senate contests, it was a welcome opportunity. You can listen to that interview by going to the Australia Talks website.
It is interesting that almost every mainstream media interview I do is usually peppered with questions along the lines of “do you really think you’ve got any chance of getting elected” or “what’s your response to the widely held view that you’re going to be wiped out at the election”, whereas very few of the community and alternative media bother with this sort of question, just sticking to views and issues.
Just so the day wasn’t totally media driven, I did get out to another forum on climate change, this time out in the Ryan electorate. Unlike many other forums, the Liberal candidate did turn up at this one, (although he didn’t stay for the question segment).
3 Comments, Comment or Ping
al loomis
i can’t imagine why you’d want to be a politician. there’s lot’s of other ways to ‘do good’ if that’s your excuse. i always presume it’s the commcars and prestige. certainly, the company you must keep is a moral danger.
the national culture ensures that “the bastards” will run oz for the foreseeable future. the corrosive power of patronage will hamstring any individual striving for honesty. the system is rotten, and participating in the system only makes it stronger.
if you are ‘retired’,give some thought to emulating mike gravel, by spearheading a civic action group to establish democracy in oz. that would be, by far, the best thing you could do for your country.
of course, if returned, equally true.
Oct 31st, 2007
philip travers
Al Loomis,The Senator has been in the Senate for a long time, he isnt seeing total corruption, in the above,but states the difficulty of so called journalistic questions about how well he will do.Which implies, even if, the Senator cannot be to sure of journalistic motives, the journalists accept the Senator,they, I think are waiting for some significant development that makes interviewing Democrats akin to a scoop. The media, has to deal with, to an extent, the commercial ramifications of operations.It is probably likely that the Democrats at an emotional level for journalists, find they can like the Democrats, and maybe finding that more troubling than what it seems reasonable to deal with as working journalists.After all making a living is a bastard of a thing sometimes and Chipp started his long journey as a child as a newspaper boy.Democrats do not create sensational items of politicking,and act in a coherency that is understood by journalists but not as a promotional characteristic.They,journalists, are about exposing the cynicism or skepticism of themselves by what is proferred as policy, thus keeping honest themselves.They,journalists, have to A! So many of us,political or not,are on their backs ready to whip them..in any field or reply..including Blogs.The Senator is not an easy target of another type of journalism,that has to always find a weakness.After all, he replies himself in a manner that is less harsh than non-public figures.They, journalists, no the limitations, of their craft, themselves and maybe know that the Senator sees that clearly,and is dealing well, as far as I can, tell with the limits on Democrats at this election.Which, if you are voting is good value! Check it out!?
Oct 31st, 2007
Bannerman
Heard you on RV, Andrew. Also noted the mainly positive feedback from listeners on the issues of accountability.
Oct 31st, 2007