The media should hold politicians to account, and politicians should be wary of the media - that's the golden rule of political communications. Democracy and politics are best served by a healthy distance and tension between MPs and those who report on and analyse them. It is far more problematic when the two institutions get too cosy - as we have witnessed in the British tabloid hacker-gate scandal in which media moguls, editors and journalists have been exposed as being incredibly close to prime ministers, politicians and spin doctors.
In that case we should probably be pleased to see that John Key has been venting his spleen at various journalists and describing the media as increasing hostile, aggressive and antagonistic towards him. Of course this doesn't mean that his criticisms of the media are accurate or fair, and there has been some interesting reactions. The best response to Key's media moan has come from Paul Buchannan writing on the Kiwipolitico blog - see: Whining John. While lambasting Key, Buchannan actually agrees with the Prime Minister's observation that the press has turned against him to some degree. This is a welcome development according to Buchannan, who says that the media gave Key the 'press equivalent of a free pass for the first three years in spite of often equivocal, deceptive or disingenuous answers to anything other than patsy question'. Furthermore, Buchannan argues that the changing orientation of the media is largely a response to Key's own actions - in particular his conduct during the 'teapot tape' saga where he attempted 'to have the photographer prosecuted, following on his defamatory and/or contemptuous treatment of individual members of the press corps'. What's more, Buchannan notes a change in Key's demeanour: 'Slowly but surely, as each new mini-scandal or crisis was revealed, Mr. Key began to drop his smile and wave optimism and replaced it with a surly, if not seething disdain for his questioners. Although he keeps his nice persona sharp for staged interviews on TV and radio, his guard drops when doing the impromptu stand-up Q&A with the press gallery'.
Swift responses to Key came, interestingly, from the Herald editors - who instantly hit back on Twitter. Herald Editor-in-Chief, Tim Murphy (@tmurphyNZH) dismissed the gripes as 'a 2nd term thing'. And New Zealand Herald Editor Shayne Currie (@ShayneCurrieNZH) said 'We wouldn't want to be populist now would we Mr Key', and in reference to British hacker-gate scandal, said 'I guess I won't be getting LOL texts'.
The best single item covering the story is Key denies slamming NZ media. Adam Bennett's Key backs off comments on 'Herald' in media gripe also provides the responses of some other politicians - the most interesting being from the staunchly anti-media Winston Peters: 'Mr Peters said the Herald, like other media, had been "absolute poodles" towards Mr Key during his Government's first term. But he offered the media his blessing for their more aggressive approach now'. TVNZ also reported later that day, 'John Key said the nation's media "were doing well" when he was confronted with a barrage of journalists in Wellington' - see: Key told to harden up after media moan. For other responses see: Duncan Garner's Media's 'hostile' behaviour natural - Key, the Wanganui Chronicle's Huff a bad look for PM, and David Farrar's Key's actual comments on the media.
So is there a 'tabloidisation' going on in New Zealand's media? Academic media expert (and former Herald editor) Gavin Ellis gives his view about this in an interview on Newstalk ZB. Larry Williams also discussed the issue in an interview with Barry Soper.
