liberation

Key to Victory – International coverage of the 2008 election

It’s always interesting to see how the rest of the world views New Zealand politics and elections. Sometimes the international media political reports contain gross distortions and various ‘lost in translation’ elements, and other times the media reports and analysis benefits from its distance and its ability to put our politics into a wider context. Therefore it’s fortunate that German journalist and scholar Aljoscha Kertesz has gathered together ‘almost 300 media reports appearing in foreign media’ about the New Zealand general election of 2008 and analysed them, noting some of the examples and trends in his chapter entitled ‘2008: The International media and the election’ in the new post-election book Key to Victory: The New Zealand General Election of 2008 (edited by Stephen Levine and Nigel S. Roberts). This blog post highlights some of the most interesting points and examples made in this unusual but very welcome chapter. In particular, it highlights the characterisation of the 2008 context as seemingly both ‘lackluster’ and ‘ugly’ [Read more below]

Key to Victory – Media coverage of the 2008 NZ election

Commercialism Vs Professionalism. That’s the tension present in modern media coverage of politics according to Babak Bahador, who’s written a very good chapter entitled ‘Media coverage of the election’ in the new post-election book Key to Victory: The New Zealand General Election of 2008 (edited by Stephen Levine and Nigel S. Roberts). Bahador asks, ‘So how did the New Zealand media balance these forces during the 2008 election? Did they follow commercial trends in other Western democracies towards increasingly partisan, negative, presidential and superficial coverage? Or did they maintain a reasonable degree of professionalism in their coverage and fulfil their democratic duty?’. He attempts to answer these questions with a comprehensive content analysis of the New Zealand Herald, Dominion Post, the Press, and TV1 and TV3 evening news. He comes up with some very interesting results. [Read more below]

Who runs New Zealand in 2009?

The 6th annual Listener ‘power list’ is out this week – seeking to shine a light on who makes up the modern New Zealand Establishment. This blog post offers an extensive critical summary of, and commentary on, the Listener’s list. Highlights include:

• Politicians do well on the power list. Although there are only 12 MPs in the whole list, 4 out of the top 5 are politicians. New entries include Simon Power, Judith Collins, Tony Ryall and Nick Smith.
• The Listener sure to do love John Key – although he’s too managerial and not rightwing enough
• The A-list ‘Top 10’ has been expanded by the peculiar inclusion of Phil Goff in the #11 position!
• One significant change in the A-list is Rodney Hide’s elevation from #7 to #4,
• Notably, Rightwing Treasury boss John Whitehead jumps into the A-list at #9
• Air New Zealand’s Rob Fyfe’s sudden inclusion at #6 of the A-list is a bit trivial
• The Listener heralds the inclusion of the country’s senior receiver, Michael Stiassny at #7, as ‘the most telling detail about this year’s Power List’
• Tariana Turia, is the only woman in the Top 10 power list at #8
• There are seven women on the power list this year; there are seven Maori
• The Environment category is distinguished by the arrival of five completely new environmental power listers – including Gareth Morgan. Nick Smith surges into the #1 spot from nowhere
• Four of ‘Business & Economy’ places go to either new entries or re-entries on the power list
• All five of last year’s Maoridom power listers have been delisted from this category in 2009; Pita Sharples is #2, transferring from #6 on the 2008 A-list, and coming in for criticism from the Listener
• In the Media category, John Armstrong of the New Zealand Herald is #3. And David Farrar has finally made the power list.

[Read more below]

The Maori Party and newspaper coverage in the 2008 NZ election

Newspaper coverage of Maori issues and the Maori Party during last years’ election campaign was very fair and reasonable according to a chapter by Ann Sullivan in the just published book Informing Voters? Politics, Media and the New Zealand Election 2008 (edited by Chris Rudd, Janine Hayward and Geoff Craig of the University of Otago Politics department). This blog post is the third of a series of explorations of the chapters from the new book (which I also have a chapter in). Sullivan says in her chapter that the 2008 media reporting was significantly better than in 2005 when sub-editing in particular relied on stereotypes and negativities. In 2008 the print media seemed more positive and ‘was generally fair, objective and reasonable’. [Read more below]

Newspaper coverage of the 2008 NZ election

How well did the daily newspapers cover the 2008 election campaign? Did readers get good, substantial information to make informed choices between parties? Or did the papers focus on the personalities and events, and more superficial aspects of the campaign? Was the ‘horse race’ given greater coverage than policy? Was ‘there a structural bias towards coverage of the major players?’ The answers are found in a chapter by Otago University’s Chris Rudd and Janine Hayward in the just published book Informing Voters? Politics, Media and the New Zealand Election 2008 (edited by Chris Rudd, Janine Hayward and Geoff Craig of the University of Otago Politics department). This blog post is the second of a series of explorations of the chapters from the new book (which I also have a chapter in). In their comprehensive chapter Rudd and Hayward use a content analysis of four of New Zealand’s most popular newspapers published during the last month of the campaign [Read more below]

Television coverage of the 2008 NZ election

How well did TV1 and TV3 cover the 2008 election campaign? Was it banal and superficial? Or in depth and serious? What issues were covered by TV? Which leaders got the best coverage? The answers are found in a chapter by Massey University’s Associate Professor Margie Comrie in the just published book Informing Voters? Politics, Media and the New Zealand Election 2008 (edited by Chris Rudd, Janine Hayward and Geoff Craig of the University of Otago Politics department). This blog post is the first of a series of explorations of the chapters from the new book (which I also have a chapter in). In her comprehensive chapter Comrie uses a content analysis of the official campaign period ‘to examine some questions about the quantity and quality of coverage and about the role of the two channels as providers of information and entertainment, as watchdogs or even junkyard dogs’. She has a lot of positive things to say, but also laments the shift towards an emphasis on individual politicians, especially the leaders of the two dominant parties, the focus on superficial campaign events, and the talking up of fleeting political ‘scandals’ rather than actually covering policies. [Read more below]

“What happens when Granny turns activist? An examination into the New Zealand Herald campaign against the Electoral Finance Bill”

“Democracy Under Attack” was the heading for the New Zealand Herald’s extraordinary campaign against the Electoral Finance Bill (EFB) before it became law in late 2007. The phrase has almost become iconic, and reflects a significant time in New Zealand politics, when political finance reform was the subject of a bitter, highly partisan and societal debate. That the Herald entered the fray so strongly to campaign against the EFB became – for some – almost as controversial as the bill itself. It’s very useful therefore that there’s been some in depth academic analysis of this issue carried out – which can be downloaded in PDF format here. This very interesting investigation was carried out last year by Hollie Hyndman, who was a University of Otago Politics honours student – and she has kindly allowed it to be uploaded to this blog. The dissertation is an excellent exploration of the dynamics of the Herald’s campaign against the EFB. It doesn’t really seek to give a definitive answer as to whether the Herald’s campaign was warranted and desirable, nor is it passing judgment on the EFB/EFA, but it does contain an incredibly useful debate about all the issues. Hollie gives a very considered account of the Herald’s campaign, applies theory about the role of the media in liberal democracies like New Zealand’s, and interviews Nicky Hager, Therese Arseneau, and Audrey Young about the topic. But importantly, as Hollie says in the abstract, ‘More broadly, the [news]paper’s stance against the EFB is used as a case study for exploring political communication in New Zealand. It provides invaluable insight into media power, the relationship between media and citizens, and the changing role of traditional media in the 21st century’. I’ve included Hollie’s dissertation on this blog because it deserves a wider audience, and because it plays an important role in chronicling and contributing to an understanding of the whole history of the Electoral Finance Act in New Zealand.

Who runs New Zealand in 2008?

The question of who runs New Zealand is infrequently examined in the media (or even that much in our universities), but it obviously deserves the attention of anyone interested in understanding politics or wanting any kind of social change. Fortunately, for the last five years the Listener has been publishing its annual Power List in an attempt to do just this. Although it’s always more journalistic and celebratory than analytical and critical, the exercise does nonetheless always shine a light on the people involved in running New Zealand. And it indicates some significant trends. This year there has been some major changes to the list, partly representing the fact that the outgoing Labour Government’s favoured businesspeople, ‘thinkers’ and lobbyists are now out in the cold as a change of government brings about different influences, but also because the Listener probably wants to dazzle us with new faces that are supposedly wielding great undiscovered power. This blog post offers a critical summary of, and commentary on, the Listener’s list. [Read more below]

[party membership] 19: Growth of the mass media

The growth of the mass media has also played a key part in superseding political parties. Changes in technology mean that the media now play a strong role in mediating information between politicians and the public, where political parties used to play that role. [Read more below]