Capítulo VI Conclusiones y Recomendaciones
Gráfica 3.10 Dimensión liderazgo
The transformation of the media landscape from 1983 to 2013 had made it more favourable for oppositions.575 Alongside technological changes, the move from Old Parliament House also watered down the intimacy that had previously characterised the relationship between politicians and journalists. Du i g the Ho a d ea s, the Coalitio s edia st ateg as predicated on the distribution of transcripts by ministerial offices that were designed to direct (and re-direct) journalists to the key messages of the day. Fast distribution also meant that politicians no longer needed to wait for information to filter back in order to respond to their opponents.576 Thus, the combination of quick distribution and a higher demand for news content encouraged the emergence of multiple daily news cycles.
The last five years, and most intensely during the hung parliament, saw further changes in the media landscape which ha e es alated this a of t a s ipts .577 The emergence of ABC News 24 as a second 24 hour news channel, the rise of online reporters aiming to file for the large lunchtime surge of readers, increased copy sharing between the papers, the emergence of
572Lough a e, The Fede al Ele tio : The Li e al Pa t , – ; Lough a e, The Li e al Ca paig i the
Fede al Ele tio , .
573
Ga ielle Cha , Li e al Ca didates Appea to Ha e Bee Gagged afte Ja es Diaz I te ie , The Guardian, August 19 2013, http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/aug/19/australian-election-2013- australian-politics.
574
Ma k Di “tefa o, Julie Bishop Des i es “e ious Diplo ati ‘elatio ships With E oji , BuzzFeed, February 16 2015, http://www.buzzfeed.com/markdistefano/emoji-plo a #.a M Xg ; Lu Batte s , To A ott
Dis isses “o ial Media as Ele t o i G affiti , Agai , The Age, January 26 2015,
http://www.theage.com.au/it-pro/government-it/tony-abbott-dismisses-social-media-as-electronic-graffiti- again-20150126-12yg26.html.
575Ma ija Taflaga, We Need to Talk a out To …: Medi
a Coverage of the Abbott Opposition 2009- , , 15–17.
576
Julian Fitzgerald, Inside the Parliamentary Press Gallery: Seeing beyond the Spin (Mawson, ACT: Clareville Press, 2008), 99, 105.
577
159
newspapers branching out into the broadcasting space, and the rise of Twitter and other social media platforms means that it is now easier than ever before to distribute information,
commentary and debate. The explosion in bandwidth available for political news has made media organisations desperate for political talent. This, combined with large job losses and loss of specialisation has only increased the need for the kind of content that opposition
spokespeople can provide because it is cheap, easy to interpret, and is often colourful.
New technologies have also changed journalism practices.578 First, the model for 24-hour news is rolling news coverage, refreshing developing stories with new emerging news angles throughout the day and frequently repeating news footage. In short, 24-hour news is a form of media constantly searching for content to fill the void. Politi al talki g heads p og a s ith olou ful and controversial media hosts are an effective strategy for filling in this time. For example, SKY News has th ee Age da p og a s a da a d o e o “atu da a d “u da he e politi al tale t is interviewed followed by journalists interviewing journalists. SKY News also has several
programs with colourful or interesting hosts such as Grahame Richardson or Peter Van Onselen. ABC News 24 is less inclined to engage this kind of programing because it can draw on content produced by its existing news divisions and regional network, which it can feed into its rolling news coverage. But it still offers plenty of opportunity for political interviews, the content of which becomes a transcript which is then distributed to the media.
Although the internet has had a dramatic impact on readership, newspapers in Australia were slow to respond to the new opportunities to interact with followers. Until the 2010 election, most newspaper websites used the internet as a means to republish content in the paper in digital form. However, this pattern of production changed during the hung parliament as newspapers increasingly use their digital space to produce interactive infographics, live blog political events and increasingly expect their staff to have active Twitter and Facebook presences.579
As traditional media outlets increasingly morph into digital media platforms, so too have the incentives for reporters changed.580 Consequently, political actors have also adapted their behaviour to the new media environment. Today, news organisations increasingly mimic the
578
The following is based on interviews with press gallery journalists and my own experiences working in the press gallery for Fairfax Media from 2008 to July 2016.
579Fo e a ple see Fai fa s Pulse Li e o the Gua dia s politi s ith Kathe i e Mu ph
.
580
For early 2010s perspective see Greg Jericho, The ‘ise of the Fifth Estate : So ial Media a d Bloggi g i
Australian Politics B u s i k, Vi : “ i e Pu li atio s, ; Judith I ela d a d G eg Je i ho, Judith I ela d a d G eg Je i ho The I pa t of “o ial Media o Politi al Jou alis , te t, Papers on Parliament, (October 2014), http://www.aph.gov.au/senate/~/~/link.aspx?_id=AF4D0999B1BA40C99E71B5439E603A13&_z=z.
160
news production style of cable news: that is, rolling news coverage, refreshing existing stories with new angles and the need to continuously find new news items over the course of the day. This manifestation is demonstrated aptly by the rise of traditional newspapers and online-only media platforms increasingly producing their own video content featuring politicians as the stars of their offerings. For example, Fairfax Media has a daily digital broadcast Breaking Politics, The Conversation with Michelle Grattan has regular video interviews with politicians and News Limited regularly features footage from Sky News on its newspaper mastheads.
This is a boon for the opposition for four reasons. First, 24-hour news channels grant daily opportunities for the opposition to participate in, and drive forward, the news cycle. Second, participation in these programs is relatively low risk given that the format of programs like The Drum
or Sky Agenda are effectively political exposition and comment rather than the more interrogative style of programs like 7.30, Lateline or the now defunct Meet the Press. Others such as The Project or breakfast television tend to be lighter programs, based on humour and quick repartee, presenting politicians with an opportunity to humanise themselves. For the government, 24 hour news represents a higher level of risk and an opportunity to be caught out making a mistake, but for the opposition, it is significantly less risky because expectations are lower for the opposition. Moreover, the exposition style of continuing news coverage is well suited to the oppositio s ole as iti -in- chief and is welcomed by the media that is o sta tl sea hi g fo ea tio to d i e the da s e s stories forward. Third, 24 hour news also gives ambitious backbenchers an opportunity to build their media profile, which has become an important (and erroneous) proxy for political and ministerial competence. Importantly for leaders, having regular media appearances keeps their colleagues on message and busy.
Finally, online reporting and 24 hour news has given the opposition more opportunities to influence the daily news cycle. Where previously the opposition had to work hard to make it into the top story of the day— often as the last paragraph of the story— today the availability of the media means that the opposition has greater flexibility in its media strategy. The fact that there are now two 24 hour News channels means that an opposition doorstop event is more likely than ever to receive coverage because if either ABC News 24 or Sky News decide to cover the event, then the other channel will feel compelled to match the coverage of their competition. In this environment, the opposition can
lau h a de ate i the iddle of the da a d e ause of the edia s eed fo o ti uous op , the
opposition will often see their political lines posted in online stories and repeated multiple times on 24 hour news channels. As several journalists interviewed for this study noted, the availability of 24 hour news and the impact of copy sharing between major newspapers such as the News Limited
161
tabloids or The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age and The Canberra Times has meant that the opposition has not needed to work individual journalists in every outlet as diligently as they had in the past.
Conclusion
In the 1980s and early 1990s, the LPA did not have a sophisticated or coordinated approach to using the media. Rather, media engagement was personally driven and reflected the individual style of leaders and shadows. Leaders in the 1980s did not feel the need or were unable to micro-manage what shadow ministers said, because the technology and the resources of the opposition were insufficient to the task. Until the fax machine arrived, campaigns were still heavily dependent on state divisions. Coalition parliamentarians regularly wrote to their papers, but the nature of the engagement was often to challenge the nature of reporting rather than to offer an account of the
oppositio s alternative policy proposals — a situation that changed by the mid-1990s.
In the post-2007 period, the approach to the media became more centralised and controlled due to the enabling capacity of modern telecommunications. Political actors increasingly place more emphasis on media activities. Leaders learnt which audiences to target and which media
environments were safer. They also spent more time and invested more resources into media, either through media appearances, writing opinion pieces or both. Tony Abbott as opposition leader played to his strengths and benefited from the dramatic changes taking place within the media. Indeed, between 2010 and 2013, the media landscape favoured shallow content and actors seeking to offer negative messages over those attempting to argue for positive changes.
Paul Kelly has argued that the edia le has ought a out the death of efo , et, the e a e already signs that the model favouring the opposition is breaking down.581 Media organisations are increasingly seeking to value-add by emphasising quality and using more data-driven approaches to tell political stories. The 2014 budget response is indicative of this change in reporting emphasis. The
ief ise of fa t he ki g a d o e espoke e s se i es e e ea l e pe i e ts i this odel.
Moreover, the centralisation of political co u i atio i the leade s offi e has likel ea hed its high-water mark during the failed Abbott prime ministership. The arrival of social media, in conjunction with the need for MPs to respond timely to events and the desire for authenticity, will continue to place pressure on a rigid and overly centralised model.
581
162
In the last three chapters, this study has examined the structures, environment and limits on
opposition behaviour and how the LPA with the National party have sought to manage these factors over two time periods. The next four chapters explore how the LPA has institutionalised both its policy-making and management processes, and how it attempts to translate its specific policy ideas into political communication narratives. The specific themes raised in this chapter, about changing media cycle and behaviour of actors will be taken up again in chapters seven and eight
163