Australian journalists are deeply troubled that Pauline Hanson no longer appears to fear them, if she ever really did.
asserted
she → trouble → them
They should be more troubled by why it is that so many Australians no longer trust journalists.
asserted
Australians → trouble → journalists
There is growing unease within the Fourth Estate about One Nation excluding selected journalists from its events.
asserted
Nation → be → events
At a press conference at Crown Melbourne last week, reporters from the ABC and The Guardian were asked to leave, escorted out by hotel security.
asserted
reporters → ask → security
The Age has also been denied access to One Nation events.
asserted
Age → deny → events
The muttering in some newsrooms is that banning journalists sets a dangerous precedent in an otherwise healthy democracy.
asserted
banning → ban → democracy
Hanson is more than capable of handling difficult questions, albeit differently to the way your typical cookie-cutter politician does.
asserted
politician → handle → way
If One Nation wants to replace the Coalition as the main alternative to Labor, it must accept the extra scrutiny that comes with that ambition.
asserted
that → want → ambition
But there is another side to this debate that journalists appear far less comfortable confronting.
asserted
journalists → be → that
The press is demanding self-reflection from Hanson, without displaying much of its own.
asserted
press → demand → own
Consider the event at which the ABC and The Guardian were excluded.
asserted
ABC → consider → which
One Nation's Victorian leader, Warren Pickering, used it to admit publicly that he had taken illegal drugs and lost his licence for drink driving several times when he was younger.
asserted
he → use → driving
Whatever anyone thinks of Pickering or those revelations, it's difficult to describe a press conference devoted to disclosing the most embarrassing episodes of a politician's past as an attempt to hide from scrutiny.
asserted
it → think → scrutiny
The Australian newspaper, which broke the story, was allowed to attend.
asserted
which → break → story
The excluded outlets weren't prevented from reporting, investigating or criticising One Nation.
asserted
outlets → exclude → Nation
In fact they continued to cover the story extensively.
asserted
they → continue → story
Describing their exclusion as 'censorship' stretches the word beyond recognition.
asserted
Describing → describe → recognition
'The press is demanding self-reflection from Hanson without displaying much of its own,' writes Daily Mail political editor Peter van Onselen.
asserted
Onselen → demand → own
(Hanson is pictured)
asserted
Hanson → picture → ?
Censorship prevents journalists from publishing.
asserted
Censorship → prevent → journalists
It uses the power of the state to suppress information or punish those who reveal it.
asserted
who → use → it
Being denied admission to a privately organised media event is very different.
asserted
denied → deny → event
And let's get real, every political party manipulates media access.
asserted
party → let → access
Politicians provide exclusives to favoured journalists, leak information to sympathetic outlets and give hand-picked reporters advance notice of announcements.
asserted
Politicians → provide → announcements
They use embargoed briefings, background conversations and carefully timed 'drops' to shape coverage.
asserted
They → use → coverage
I know because I have, over the years, experienced every single one of the above.
asserted
I → know → above
Reporters who play the game receive access, it's that simple.
asserted
it → play → access
Those who cause problems can suddenly find that phone calls are no longer returned, interviews disappear and stories are given to competitors.
asserted
stories → cause → competitors
Threats to freeze out journalists have been part and parcel of politics for decades.
asserted
Threats → freeze → decades
Governments can be particularly effective at it because they control such an enormous flow of information.
asserted
they → control → information
They rarely need to announce a formal ban, their punishment can be administered discreetly.
asserted
punishment → need → ban
Again I've experienced this, on multiple occasions.
asserted
I → experience → occasions
The ABC itself has previously described political 'drops' as a well-known media management tactic journalists often tolerate and even embrace, despite the hidden agendas and conditions sometimes attached to it.
asserted
journalists → describe → it
When major parties ration out information this way, it's media management apparently.
asserted
it → ration → information
But when One Nation does it very openly, it becomes an existential threat to democracy.
asserted
it → do → democracy
Major parties use a velvet glove, One Nation uses hotel security guards.
asserted
Nation → use → guards
That doesn't make One Nation's approach more or less desirable frankly, but it does make the media's shock at their approach highly selective and inconsistent.
ABC and The Guardian were excluded from an event where One Nation's Victorian leader, Warren Pickering (pictured) admitted publicly that he had taken illegal drugs and lost his licence for drink driving several times when he was younger
Some journalists have an idealised concept of the Fourth Estate which no longer matches the state of the sector as it operates today.
asserted
it → make → sector
Thomas Jefferson is often invoked as the great defender of the press.
asserted
Jefferson → invoke → press
In 1787 he wrote that if forced to choose between 'a government without newspapers, or newspapers without a government', he would prefer the latter.
asserted
he → write → latter
But Jefferson didn't regard newspapers as inherently virtuous.
asserted
Jefferson → regard → newspapers
…and 32 more, not listed.
The Aporia
