POLITICAL

JOURNALISM (PART 3)
CRITICS OF PACKAGING
PROFESSOR SCOTT WRIGHT
CRITICS OF PACKAGING

• Garnham 1986: the public has become a market; citizens are consumers
• Meyer 2002 – politics has been ‘colonized’ by a media logic
• ‘we may have reached a point where cosmetics have replaced ideology as the field of
expertise over which a politician must have competent control ’ (Postman: 4; 129).
IN PRAISE OF PACKAGING

• Temple (2006) rational adaptation

• ‘the marketing concept may possess intrinsic virtue precisely because, in principle, it
makes politics more democratic’ (Scammell 1995: 18).
• Popularisation can build connection and relationship (Van Zoonen 1998)
• “Politics is marketing. As the logic of marketing takes hold, it necessarily shapes the
conception of ‘representation’. Representatives sell themselves to their market; successful
parties are like successful entrepreneurs.” (Street 2010: 252).
DECLINE OF INVESTIGATIVE REPORTING

• Use of door stepping, focus on celebrity

• Focus on pundits
• Cuts to current affairs TV in Australia – or denuded (Flew et al 2018)
• Argument goes that investigative journalism in on the decline – less resources, fewer
journalists…
• Journalists are now lapdogs, not watchdogs (CJR 1998 – cited in Street 2001)
 THE PACK/LOBBY/CAMPAIGN BUS

• ”… the press pack is conveniently ushered around to many picture opportunities where
politicians can be observed in an organised environment in which there is little to no risk.
While many pundits often question the necessity of ‘the bus’, media outlets still see it as
their preferred method of election coverage as it requires their journalists to be on the
ground and closest to the action in the event of a major breaking story.” (Akers 2018 p.
63 – cited in Brookes 1039)
• 2019 Federal election – arguably a new low… “all the drama, authenticity and substance
of a low-rent soapie filmed on a soundstage”
• Too close to politicians – not willing to burn bridges.