A story this week gave a small window in the Prime Minister's relationship with the media.
The PM had just arrived in Tokelau. But she wouldn't be taking questions on the Ihumātao land protests. That was a personal instruction, said the story. If it was disobeyed, reporters would loseaccess to the PM.
Higher ups in the PM's office were told, they intervened, and order was restored.
If you're generous, you could blame this on something as simple as a breakdown in communication somewhere along the line. An example of a message lost in translation, grabbed with both hands and turned into a story, maybe. But the fact that it was a story - that a behind-the-scenes spat was put on the TV news - tells you something.
Next in line, Helen Clark, went out of her way to court the media. She reinstated the media conferences. Fronted for weekly interviews. Regularly caught up with political editors on the phone.
John Key continued that. To the weekly interviews and phone chats he added regular spots on music radio where he answered inane questions about weeing in the shower.
And then it changed with Ardern. Sure, she still does her weekly radio and TV spots. But the frequent private phone calls have dried up. She tried it for a while right at the start, but it didn't last long.
Ardern during a post-Cabinet press conference. Photo / Mark Mitchell
The value of those kinds of conversations can't be underestimated. They build personal rapport. They allow the PM to sell ideas to the country's leading political journalists. Clark and Key did them for a reason. Both surely had better things to do on a Sunday or a weekday evening.
The other notable thing that's dropped away is the longer interview. If you're domestic media, it's harder to book one of those nowadays. In a week in September last year, Ardern cancelled long-planned long-form interviews with Newshub's The Nation, TVNZ's Q+A and myself on Newstalk ZB. It didn't go down well because the cancellation came not long after she'd done a long-form interview with the New York Times' Maureen Dowd in her slippers and complained about domestic criticism. Key took questions on talkback radio in Wellington as much as four times a year. Ardern did it once a year.
The frustration is reciprocated. The PM and her office feel mainstream media automatically take negative angles and criticise unfairly.
That might explain the PM's regular use of Facebook lives. They let her bypass the media, and go straight to the public. The tactic has even been adopted by Education Minister Chris Hipkins who used one this week to announce his polytech reforms and then answered viewer questions about details like the name of the new super polytech.
It's a viable approach. It's part of the reason Donald Trump remains popular with his base. He uses his Twitter account. It lets him get out his message exactly how he wants it said, and when he wants it said.
