Written By: - Date published: 2:11 pm, January 20th, 2008 - 278 comments
Categories: Media, spin -
Tags: journalism, Media, spin, sunday star times
Ruth Laugeson has an article in the Sunday Star Times about the increased numbers of communications staff employed by ministries. Entitled “Spinning govt yarn costs $47m”, the article is in many ways a lovely piece of spin in its own right.
The basis of the article is that the number of spindoctors employed by the Government has greatly increased – we’re told it’s doubled from five years ago and is much much larger than it was in 1984. This is totally true. But one of the aspects of good spin is what you leave out.
There are a lot of reasons general communications staff might increase, most notably the fact that it takes a lot of people and effort to maintain an up-to-date website and having no website or an out of date one leaves you open to a lot of criticism (especially if you’re a ministry). But this story is about spindoctors and if we’re talking media then the truth of the matter is that over the last five years (and longer) I’ve watched the communications output from everyone increase. Nowadays every bloody thing gets its own media release. I just looked on scoop, for example, and it seems that Coca Cola has decided a new campaign to sell bottled water deserves its own media release. Note – we’re not talking about anything revolutionary about the product – this is an media campaign promoting an advertising campaign in turn promoting water. I mean really, why would they bother?
They bother because there’s a good chance someone will pick it up and they know nobody would ever pick it up in a million years unless they fax and email it to every newsroom in the country.
Y’see, nearly every newsroom in New Zealand has had the guts ripped out of it by its owners. Back in the day a newspaper reporter might spend a day doing one story and the newsroom would be full. Nowadays you can give one journo an internet connection and a phone and expect them to churn out ten stories a day (I’ve heard stories of ZB journos doing up to 20!) and that’s nine other journos you don’t have to employ. And that means profits. APN, who owns the Herald currently makes about 13% profit on capital annually – their target is 20% and they regularly post annual profits around the $100m mark from their NZ operations alone. Fairfax generally makes twice as much or more.
Of course the news suffers a lot when you cut frontline staff. Nothing can be investigated in depth and there’s very little time to gather balanced comment. If you’re a journo tasked with 10 stories a day and someone such as Coca Cola or a Ministry (or the National Party) offers to provide you with the “research” and quotes you need to make one, what do you do? The answer is you use what they give you and move onto the next story ‘cos fuck it, you’re on close to minimum wage once you count your unpaid overtime anyway.
That’s why the most telling line in the whole of Laugeson’s story comes from Jim Tully:
government and corporate public relations staff were growing as newsrooms were shrinking.
It wasn’t worth employing PR people in 1984 because you could tell a journo whatever you wanted and you’d know they’d have the time and resources to cover the story properly. In fact if you brought something up with them you’d be guaranteeing that your opponent’s opinion on the matter and the facts themselves would get a good airing.
Nowadays you can be fairly sure that if your media release is picked up, large chunks of it are likely to be run almost verbatim and if your opponent doesn’t get a release of their own out quick enough then it’s highly unlikely they’ll be heard. And your own issues or achievements won’t be heard about if you don’t speak up either. In today’s news climate nobody would hear about what the government (or anyone else) does without spindoctors and I find that depressing.
The real story behind the increase in spindoctors is the story of our newsrooms being run down and our news increasingly coming directly from the keyboards of vested interests because we’ve got a media that cares about profits and not about paying people to actually gather our news.
Considering we rely on information from the media in order to make important decisions about our lives and our country (such as who to vote for) that’s a very dangerous situation. But it’s not one we’re going to see examined in the SST anytime soon.
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Hi sodomite !!
You’re not recruiting me, Sonic. Nobody has ever seriously alleged that I’m in the employ of the National Party or its affiliates. A distinguished political science lecturer–and a left wing one at that–has, on the other hand, raised very serious questions about the affiliations of the Standard’s authors.
All these are questions that Tane refuses to answer.
Rob… it isn’t me. Too funny for my efforts mate, however D4J has found you and is spreading his “specialness” on the comments.
It is a good job labour have got in over the ditch. most of the posters here will be job hunting in the unlikely event of national managing to grab the treasury benches.
A distinguished political science lecturer
No he’s not Prick – in fact he’s taken a hiding on the standard in political debate. You’re lying again. Between that and the pig fucking I don’t know how you can sleep at night.
I have said repeatedly that if Tane discloses that no employees of the Labour Party, a Labour Party-affiliated union, or an employee of ministerial services, are Standard authors, then I will accept him at his word.
In other words, you’re still fishing for who these guys are while trying to remain anonymous yourself, and the correct answer remains “Fuck off, cunt.” I’m amazed none of the blog owners has yet offered this answer.
in the unlikely event of national managing to grab the treasury benches.
I agree with bill
http://newzblog.wordpress.com/2008/01/21/pig-fucking/
Didn’t this descend quickly into the swamp.
Heather…. heather ……. heather if you are online, get Mike to pull the plug quickly. And somebody give rob a medal, he has fought the good fight all day.
PM, I think you missed this relevant passage.
“They have been blogging for months now, championing the cause for public accountability of political connections, while doing everything in their power to conceal their own.”
Bill – I figured if it’s good enough for the 36th President of the great democracy of the world it’s good enough for ‘sod.
You’ve been on these threads all day mate – aren’t you worried that when WINZ finds out how you spend your days they’ll stop your sickness benefit and put you on some kinda work scheme?
Kimble – I think you missed this point: even if the Standard is sitting on a temporary server lent to they by labour that’s only been the situation since early this month. And what political connections are you talking about?
Now I know you are tired and worn out rob.
Your fevered imaginings are writ large all over the AOS today.
Today has been a happy confluence of circumstances for me.
It has rained fairly hard in the Bay of Islands all day and the contractors cancelled the hay making because of it. So instead of playing my usual role as indolent squire looking down upon the serfs I have spent the day in front of Fox news with a laptop in one hand and some JW Black in the other.
So you’re a farmer now Bill? That’s odd ‘cos the last time you claimed to be wealthy and successful you were an IT expert. What’s next mate? Astronaut? Pirate? First Lady???
retired rob, if retired is the right word for it. Living in the Bay of islands with a few acres enjoying life and trying not to take myself or anybody else too seriously. And yes we had (still have in a small way) a business that offered telco and IT services nationally from auck until late 2005.
Personally I think it is time everybody took a breath and a step back, you (until today) have calmed down and the excesses of your early posts had/have been forgiven, your calming down coincided with you being named which I did not agree with (but did take advantage of), lets hope we can all resume “normal” hostilities once the beast has made tane move his blog to a place that does not cause all of you so much embarassment.
extraordinary, somebody is really taking the piss.
CAPTCHA
RED VIOLATION
Oh c’mon bill – you’ve got to admit the pig post is funny. I mean I pinched the joke off a republican!
Have you seen any word of criticism from me?
Both your posts on pigs are hilarious
I see that Larry Williams raised this issue today. http://newstalkzb.co.nz/thisweek/hourrecs/Mon, Jan 21 16.00 trn-newstalk-zb-akl.asf have a look at 14:48 in. Looks like the media are already onto it.
It may well be that Tane’s absence on-line today is because he’s been fielding phone calls from Mike Williams and Andrew Little to explain his decision to lie on his blog about the political affiliations of his authors.
Telling half-truths is not a smart idea, Tane.
Hey IP(f) – fucking pigs isn’t very smart either. Think of what they could catch. On a more serious note, I don’t think I’ve ever heard anyone call Larry Williams “the media”. I see you saw that mentioned on KB and then frittered away your evening looking for it IP(F) – I would’ve thought you’d be out there “shagging hot chicks” rather than sifting through deadtime dross looking for any tiny thing to feed your spite. I guess not.
You need a break IP(F) – could I suggest cuba? Perhaps the bay of pigs.
Who’s Larry Williams been taking voice lessons from, John Banks?
Sounds a lot like the only “independent expert” David Farrar wrote the “story” for him. About as long and interesting as a Bog post too, even Williams (often quite good at mock-outrage) sounds like he can barely keep awake till the end of the piece.
btw IP – who do you work for?
why did you post more than 3,000 words here in one evening, opposing the EFB on the night National tried its lame arsed filibustering?
just a passionate hobbyist are you?
cuba… bay of pigs… comedy gold. JWB sprayed forth from my nostrils.
Rob you are a bastard (he mumbles through a hankie, trying to stop the stinging).
Dad, stop posting under Sonic’s name. We’re all onto you.
I blame Tumeke for this whole debacle
http://barnsleybill.blogspot.com/2008/01/evil-conspiracy-revealed.html
What a funny day.
I know no-one in blogosphere. I judge them all by what they say.
I am a right winger. So I have always been inclined to think all of Tane’s “DPF what’s your game [insert conspiracy about being in the pay of a the vast right wing conspiracy]” posts were all paranoia. Maybe I am naive.
I am not going to lie: when I read DPF’s post, I was delighted. The Standard being plausibly exposed as being potentially involved in exactly what they have tirelessly accused DPF of doing. What delicious irony.
But then I remember Hanlon’s Razor: don’t attribute to maliciousness that which can be adequately explained by stupidity. And, for the same reason I suspect (without knowing) that DPF is just a guy who is interested in politics and is a right winger by conviction, I suspect that the Standard people are just people who are interested in politics and are left wingers by conviction.
Now maybe I am just naive and Heather Simpson is smirking whilst composing her next post as Tane. Almost certainly Nih will pop up and call me gay. But I suspect I am closer to the truth about both sides than any partisan hack will admit.
And isn’t it funny that, pretend as we like that this is all about ideology, what really gets everyone’s juices flowing is a good old conspiracy theory where, rather than having to show why our respective ideas are better, we can simply leap to exposing the other side as being dishonest.
And now I am going to go, because I am worried everyone is reading this in the voice Sam Elliot used in ‘The Big Lebowski’, Dude.
Billy
well said
The dude abides, Billy.
Just had a listen to that Larry Williams piece and what a joke. He sounded like he was reading someone else’s work. There was none of the usual passion and anger, and the attempts to link it to the ‘draconian’ EFA (real professional Laz’) were desperate. He was done in twenty seconds and honestly, Sprout’s on the money when he says Lazza just sounded bored.
All in all a crap piece of journalism during dead time that basically amounted to “I read this thing on Kiwiblog and it sounds kind of bad for labour – haven’t bothered to do any more research. Next story.”
Billy- props. I enjoy having reasonable rightwingers on this site rather than the usual dross that comes over from Kiwiblog. It makes it a lot more interesting.
This has been going on for a day or more now, yet there is STILL nothing on the front page about it. Why is that?
You would think a small reference would be warranted surely? Just a single post to set the record straight?
I can think of three plausible reasons why this hasnt happened, and they are by no means mutually exclusive.
1. Paul M has you dead to rights, and there is little wriggle room.
2. You haven’t been able to come up with a consistent story thus far.
3. If you put it on the front page, any one that happens to stumble upon the site will be blissfully unaware of your humiliation and by your Labou-funded, anti-National propaganda.
Possibly because there’s something else on today?
I’m sure the six and a half people in New Zealand consumed with this issue will have plenty of time to froth about it for the rest of the year. But please forgive the rest of us if we don’t share your obsession at this moment. Sorry.
Anybody seen Peter ?
Yes lets get on with it. More analysis less froth.
It’s amazing how much this post resembles this press release from the epmu http://www.ourmedia.org.nz/2007_04_12_TVNZ_guts
So which was it? Was this press release written on epmu time or was this post written on epmu time?