Wednesday, July 19, 2006

Diversions

The media serves up what people want. The front page of the DomPost features a story about some family group who have published guidelines about how to discipline a child by smacking.

Tucked away somewhere in the NZ Herald (I don't have the hardcopy but it's 14th in the news list) is coverage of what Don Brash told the Local government conference yesterday;

"We have seen a major blow-out in public-sector employment in this country that has unnecessarily constrained the growth of the private sector - the wealth creators.

"Both central and local government ... have started to believe that it's all about us, when in fact it is all about the hard-working individuals who make investment and employment decisions. We are here to serve them."


He went on to describe what National would do about this.

Which story has more relevance to more lives?

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thats the NZ media for you.

Anonymous said...

anon, that may be true, but it reflects on National's weaknesses when it comes to understanding how to use the media to its own ends.

The media is not owned by political parties, does not serve political parties (well, in general), and is a dumbed down, headline/sound bite ratings-is-God business.

BUSINESS.

So. Give the business what it wants to increase its profits, and it will eat from your hands.

So National's challenge is to cast its messages in such a way as to be highly profitable for the media.

Anonymous said...
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