Our weekly (mostly) look at media spin tactics: let’s dissect the PR and propaganda that aims to blow one’s own horn, bury one’s errors, resurrect the shambling zombie corpses of well-flogged deceased equines, and ooh look! A Big Distracting Thing! Cui bono? What’s really going on?
Please note – this thread’s just for the analysis of media manoeuvres and their intended effects – discussion of other aspects of issues of interest belongs elsewhere. e.g. browse the archives | roundtables | open thread
Would anyone agree that Anna Bligh’s silence on an election date is some kind or spin? While she has the right to call the election at a time of her choosing, it is not *her* election, it is *our* election.
Whilst it is the norm to set a date that advantages the incumbent, in this instance we seem to have a coy silence. I would maintain that “no news” from Ms Bligh is in fact information that is providing a perceived advantage to Labor.
Historically “no news” has some powerful examples of the unspoken: the promised handover of Hawke to Keating, the premiership passing from Beattie to Bligh and the easily speculated passing of the State leadership baton to Andrew Fraser (well who else is there anyway?).
My point is that spin can occur by omission, simply by failing or refusing to make an appropriate response in a timely fashion.
When you are in Bligh’s position you would want to string it out for a long as possible hoping for some sort of recovery in the polling. Calling one any sooner than the very last possible moment would be plain dumb.
Sure enough Occams, but there is also the complication of the local government elections, mandated for 31st March. There are concerns that we Queenslanders could not handle the proximity of two types of elections. Probably the same science that stops us from having daylight saving.
But if the local elections are an issue for Ms Bligh, that reduces her options, so she might as well declare…
..mmmmm….not so fast. Is her silence on the subject designed to preserve the tactical political advantage that comes from the prerogative of calling election date when the Premier wishes, yes, absolutely, of course, and we see the same thing all the time in Federal politics. But is that spin? No, I don’t think so.
‘Spin’ refers to the debasement of the currency of truth — the way that modern media and PR mangling machines manage to make facts subservient to “messages”: eg. (a made-up example) — When asked about increasing congestion on the roads, the Transport Minister pointed out how strongly the state economy is growing…
The fact here is that the Premier has the prerogative to call an election, and is under no statutory obligation to discuss it even with the voters, and loses a tactical political advantage if she does so (whether you think that is an acceptable political framework is of course your own prerogative, and if you are a Quincelander you are even in a position to do something about that…)
So there isn’t an election on, until there is.
But how that constitutes ‘spin’, exactly, is not clear to me.
If the concept of ‘spin’ is to retain any value whatsoever in media and social analysis, we have to stop applying it to every conceivable utterance (or, now, lack of utterance!) — although I feel that we are already well past the point of no return here. Joe Hockey refers to government ‘spin’ now practically every time he opens his mouth, except when he is putting sandwiches in it.
Thanks Mercurius, your point(s) well taken. I suppose it can become a philosophical discussion that the citizens have a right to know what is happening in their State, and it is not a mandated prerogative, even if tolerated by voters, to play out the timing to suit the government.
I think you nailed my objection – ” ‘Spin’ refers to the debasement of the currency of truth…” where we are constantly, routinely lied to by government such that trust of government has evaporated.
Geoff,
Actually, you are being constantly, routinely lied to by the LNP and News Ltd, who have a vested interest in destroying trust in Govt- until they get back in.
It’s a political & media protection racket: Until they get what they want (power), they’ll do all they can to kick everything to pieces.
After they get power, they’ll swap to constantly, routinely lying to you in a diametrically opposed way: of course you can trust your Govt. And anything bad will always be someone else’s fault (after all, the LNP’s about privilege, not responsibility).
“Probably the same science that stops us from having daylight saving.”
What, do local government elections fade your curtains??
OK. I’ve commented about it elsewhere but why is there such a massive spin campaign about ‘greedy selfish’ chefs and waiters and the call for the abolishment of penalty rates?
Unpaid overtime no longer enough ?
Sad thing is that judging by the comments threads most of the public seems to be coming around on side against greedy employees and siding with poor business owners.
tssk, I think it’s jut part of the campaign to get Abbott to revisit IR reform, once he’s in his rightful place as PM. I actually overheard a couple of small business people whining about the same thing in a supermarket queue just after Christmas.
8 & 9
Unthinkable that lowly dish-pigs and waiters should earn good money one day a week. Business owners have a god given right to be wealthier more highly regarded in society and not have to work weekends . They are richer, better, smarter, thinner and more beautiful and give more back to the ‘community’ because of these attributes.
Damn ingratiates, we’ve given them 15 hours a week, what do they want? More money. Greedy, lazy, little upstarts. Bring back laws against worker insolence.
Matt Cowgill unpacks the Calombaris spin here:
http://www.abc.net.au/unleashed/3769646.html
I’d love to see how much wealth and jobs all these “wealth creators” and “job creators” would create, without the sweat off the backs of all those greedy lazy staff they keep complaining about!
Still, one thing to counter all this pro-bastards messaging would be just to hear from some socially responsible small business owners who actually appreciate their staff, actually respect and value them, see them as fellow humans and not exploitable replaceable cogs, and who appreciate the symbiotic mutuality of the employer-employee relationship, and who, as the directors and owners of their operations, don’t reflexively blame-shift when business gets tough.
There are lots and lots of them out there — in fact I’d wager they’re in a slender majority (they’re the ones running successful businesses!) — but they’re hard to hear over the deafening, entitled, whinging of the vocal minority in the failing businesses.
Aaaaaanyway….back to analysing spin…..
^^^You mean the ones who sacrificed profit in favour of paying their staff greater wages…? Who now have to ponder whether they continue running a business where a small profit became no profit because of policy changes?
And now raising concerns about that is the way we identify decent, ethical enterprises. I guess that is easier than pondering the legitimacy of their concerns.
I don’t have any sympathy for Calombaris comments because he is in a position to make changes that other enterprises in his sector have very little wriggle room on. [Also, I'm in favour of penalty rates, but I know more than a few people who would be happy to bargain them away for a higher base wage - I doubt Calombaris would find that a desirable outcome either]. Matt, in the article I linked to, left out a few coming changes that impact on business that relate to % of income that have made it difficult for businesses to plan. It will be interesting to see if the profit to sales ratio changes in the future – that was an interesting graph he presented. It’s proposed that the changes will simply result in a wages freeze, which I think is a less that desirable outcome for workers – after all the cost of living is likely to continue to rise – in real terms, it’s a wage cut. Forced saving will mean less discretionary spending and that will indeed be crappy for the hospitality industry. Not great for retail either, really. Interesting times, I’d hate to be either a worker or an employer in those sectors to be honest.
Should I be surprised that there appears to have been no Australian official/reported comment on the assassination of an Iranian nuclear scientist? Even the US has condemned the action, widely attributed to Israel’s Mossad agency. Whatever you feel about the Iranian nuclear issue, the targeting of civilians in assassinations seems despicable.
It seems a fair bit of Abbott’s meshuga derives of imported T-Party pap. And it ought to be opposed.
Just today, a report is out highlighting the decision of authorities (and courts) in Tucson, Arizona, to expunge Shakespeare from Arizona school curricula for being too”liberal”.
Elsewhere, the child labour proposals by the right in the US also indicate fascist paranoia gone berserk.
ABC turns a story about a shonky small business into an attack on trade unions for being silly enough to employ them? Isnt this really an example of how privatisation doesnt work, not for government and not for unions?
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-01-18/union-scheme-collapse-leaves-workers-in-the-lurch/3781632?section=business
WTF is it with ABC24′s obsession with the conservitard Republican parade of fools?
Thursday’s(?) Courier Mail carried an article about Premier Bligh’s former chief communications man. He was sighing a huge relief at being able to give a speech that reflect truth. He went on to say that for so long he had to spin the truth, giving a few examples etc., that he was very pleased to have taken a package. [I apologise for not noting the edition details of the Courier Mail. However I was lunching at a fine Calombaris-style restaurant in Cairns, so the edition might have been Wednesdays, and even then, "modified" to suit our regional preferences.]
The same issue carried an editorial about the difficulties getting information from the Bligh government if that information reflected poorly on government. This was despite supposedly advanced transparency introduced some years ago that was heralded as nation-leading.
Kersebleptes @6, why limit your comment to exclude incumbent government? Clearly governments tend to present information in a way that makes them look good, media present information that it hopes will bring more sales – both actions often at the expense of truth.
I think that for me, that is what spin is about.
If I may again cite Mercurius @4 Quote: ‘Spin’ refers to the debasement of the currency of truth — the way that modern media and PR mangling machines manage to make facts subservient to “messages”… unquote
It’s not exactly spin (although I’m sure it will be spun for all it’s worth), but Abbott just can’t help treading on his dick.
@19 — faaaaark.
The storm about the pokies tax seems to have disappeared entirely overnight. I was under the impression that Wilkie was about to lash out at Gillard and topple her but…but….but…did the media jump the gun again?
Indded, Merc. He doesn’t really look like Prime Ministerial material, does he?
QLD election odds, come in spinner.
I’m thinking this blog can take in some new oxygen given the QLD State election, the impact upon local government elections and now the renewed scrutiny of Wivenhoe dam and the floods.
As I see it, “spin” is misrepresentation on some kind of ramp that morphs to deceit, lies, damn lies (a corruption of Disraeli) and ultimately moral (and maybe criminal) corruption.
The suggestion is that things might have been handled differently, and the consequences less, had the flood management been more astute, or professional. That is one part.
The second part, waiting in the wings, is whether the government knew of the actualities, and if any deception (by omission or commission) occurred was it aware of such?
Based on my readings of news items to date, the clear inference is that the Queensland government knew more than it is admitting. But the press is there to entertain first, so stirring up a juicy scandal around the flood management would sell a lot of papers.
So where is the spin, and why is no one complaining? Well the spin is there but it looks so normal that most people don’t recognise it – well how could they, this government has lied to us (yeah I’m from Queensland) routinely since they got into office, it is expected that government should “spin”.
One more comment. Think about this – spin is ineffective if no one hears what is said. But we do hear, thanks to an uncritical Press whose first priority is to generate advertising revenues. It does this by printing stories that are “interesting”. Ideally there is a germ of truth involved, but that can be overlooked. I am saying that the media has a role to play, and in it’s excitement to be profitable at the Murdoch scale it has lost the ethical plot. More bluntly, the media is an essential ingredient of political spin. Look for it.