Ed Lines: Be prepared for most banal of comments

John Key's histrionic assertion that the secret taping of a conversation between he and former Whangarei MP John Banks is akin to News of the World phone hacking makes you wonder what he is trying to divert attention from.

The conversation was recorded after a freelance cameraman left a recording device on the pair's table, after placing it there when reporters had been allowed to record Mr Banks.

The cameraman forgot about the recorder and it stayed on the table.

The device was not concealed. It was sitting on the table in plain view.

Given two pairs of politicians' hands, a reserved sign and some salt and pepper shakers were the only other items on the table, you'd think these two bright political sparks would have wondered what the black bag was.

Perhaps each thought it was the other's man bag and were too embarrassed to mention it?

After the private conversation, watched by a verging on comical posse of photographers clamouring for a photo outside, ended, the cameraman collected the device, and later offered the contents to the Herald On Sunday.

Editor Bryce Johns, a former Northern Advocate chief reporter, has sought legal advice which indicates the paper could publish the contents, but there is an ethical call to be made.

The latter is likely to centre on the fact that Mr Banks and Mr Key did not know they were being recorded. At least, not an audio recording.

Certainly, images of their private conversation - an orchestrated jack-up - were being collected rapidly outside the window.

It may interest readers to know that if a reporter is interviewing a person, the reporter is not required by law to advise the person they are being recorded. Only one person in the conversation is required to know.

However, there is an assumption that reporters have made it clear to the person that the purpose of the interview is for a story. And therefore the mode of recording what the person says is neither here nor there as far as the interviewee is concerned.

As for the "secret" recording of Mr Banks and Mr Key's conversation.

It's hardly secret if the device is sitting next to the teapot, and it is hilarious, naive and embarrassing to compare it to News of the World tactics.

My prediction - the Herald on Sunday will publish the transcript or excerpts this Sunday, and prepare to be underwhelmed by the banality of the conversation.

editor@northernadvocate.co.nz