A significant proportion of the media is now heavily invested in the narrative that David Shearer is about to be rolled as Labour leader. In particular Patrick Gower and Duncan Garner have become so obsessed that they have become the object of regular satire. Matt McCarten’s piece today sums it up well:
This week was even more depressing. Some in the media have become so bored and cynical they now make up political news.
Labour had a conference remit to allow electorates to restrict selections to women. The media scrum screamed that Labour leader David Shearer would be toppled for allowing PC to go viral in his party. Shearer knocked out the remit. The scrum reversed tack, spinning he would now be toppled for interfering in party democracy.
That was bit weak so they invented a story about a letter signed by MPs, calling for his head. Every MP denied it, which only proved, to the scrum anyway, their fiction must be true. For their own credibility, the media now needs to keep the story alive and frame Shearer as a leader under internal attack. Truth no longer matters.
Politics was once about noble ideas. Now it’s about media celebrity and intrigue. No wonder New Zealanders have disengaged. And civil society is poorer for it.
Yes – civil society is poorer for it.
Truth no longer matters, and Shearer is damned if he does, damned if he doesn’t. Every coup denial is further proof of a coup. Take it away Brian…
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