Even those members of the public who voted for the old status quo can grudgingly admit that the new government deserves a chance, at least, and the media tends to follow this nation-wide sentiment fairly closely. There will still be the odd spiky interview, right from the start, but in general, reporters, editors and producers give them a break.
The new Labour-led government was sworn in just the other week, and is still getting a little bit of a free ride through the first days. There is still, of course, a deeper focus on its new policies, and their cost, and their possible effectiveness, now that they have made the leap to the big time, which is only to be expected. And there are interviewers whose entire reputation rests on having a bite at everybody, and nobody should be surprised to see them getting their licks in.
These kind of things have already prompted murmurs and whispers about the end of this honeymoon stage, with several political commentators already giving the new government a bit of the side-eye. But it takes more than that a short, snide column or long, boring Twitter thread to bring that honeymoon to an end. It never lasts forever, but it lasts a bit longer than you might expect if you were hip deep in endless political analysis and guesswork.
The honeymoon period between a new government and the media usually well outlasts the usual prophets of doom, but it comes to a dead stop at the exact moment the current regime can't blame the previous ones for all its own fuck-ups.
This could take years, with the new government's policies so diametrically opposed to National's, on so many different levels. Issues with the health, justice, housing and transport systems are all being proactively looked at, and steps are already been taken to move in new directions. It just takes fucking ages for these kinds of processes to fully kick in, and in the meantime, the previous direction takes a kicking.
Eventually, ministers won't be able to hide behind the ideas, flawed or otherwise, of their predecessors, and will have to front up to questions and accusations, based on its own merits. They might still whine about the mistakes the earlier guys made, but sooner or later, they've got to stand or fall on their own work.
For the best example of this, you only have to look at the media's access to government ministers. By the end of its three terms, the National government was notorious for declining to comment on some pretty fucking big issues. Trying to get Jonathan Coleman into a live interview to talk about some of the horrific examples of our healthcare system failures, or Paula Bennett to talk about another social welfare fuck-up, was bloody difficult,
That's flipped around now, and new ministers are only too happy to go on The Hui or Checkpoint, or talk to long-suffering newspaper reporters. They're only too eager to show that they're concerned, and doing something about it. There have been tonnes of media appearances in the past couple of weeks by the new Trading and Health and Housing ministers, and it's easy to get almost any government minister on the line.
But if time drags on and there are no real results, there will be no more excuses, and any failure to meet expectations will lead to a souring of that relationship. If Labour manages to stay in power for three terms, there is little doubt they'll end up the same way National did after nine years - wary and weary of being exposed to any media scrutiny. It certainly happened to the last Labour government.
Meanwhile, the new opposition is still getting used to the idea of needing the media's help to get their message across. Several of them, including the lovable Gerry Brownlee, remain hilariously grumpy with reporters who ring up for a quote, clearly blaming the media for their part in their loss of power, instead of their own shortcomings around the negotiation table.
They'll flip around in about the same time the government starts to sour on the media intrusions, and starts muttering darkly about those pinkos at RNZ, or that bloody Paddy Gower. National will have to re-learn the opposition game, although the lack of any real bloodshed in the ranks after their loss might mean it takes a bit longer.
In the meantime, the new government should enjoy their honeymoon while it lasts, and try not to think too much about the inevitable divorce.
- Steve Lombard
Posts
