Politics comes to prime time

There’s a new show in town, and it’s basically all of us, watching state and federal poli­tics.

Remember when the family used to gather around a bowl of microwaved popcorn to watch the Sunday­ night movie?

Well, there’s a new show in town, and it’s basically all of us, watching state and federal poli­tics. Press conferences and media briefings, TikToks and trending tweets, some of them hosted by the Prime Minister, or our state premiers, or even the Treasurer.

We cannot get enough, and why? Because we’re all political junkies now.

It makes perfect sense: COVID-19 has made us anxious. We want advice and we need instruction and, in that context, the normal business of government — a long briefing by Scott Morrison, for example — is proving irresistibl­e.

Press conferences featuring the Prime Minister and the nation­’s Chief Medical Officer, Brendan Murphy, instantly become­ trending topics across ­social media platforms.

Chief Medical Officer Brendan Murphy and Scott Morrison give an update on the coronavirus. Picture: AAP.

And it often becomes fun. Morrison’s interaction with the ABC’s Andrew Probyn — “You don’t run the press conference, Andrew’’ — became a smash hit on TikTok, connecting a new audience to federal politics (it’s the funkification of news, ­apparently).

West Australian Labor Premier Mark McGowan woke on Tuesday to the news that his Newpoll approval rating is a staggering 89 per cent. How can that be? Clearly, the public thinks he’s handling this crisis with aplomb, and they’ve come to that conclusion at least in part by watching his live press conferences.

First there was McGowan snorting with laughter at the idea that somebody in NSW had been fined for going for a run and stopping­ for a kebab.

Next, he was interrupted by a friendly yobbo, shouting from his car: “Hey Macca, we f. king love you, buddy!’ (The sign language interpret­er did some terrific fist bumps, to bring the point home.)

Each joyful moment — McGowan convulsed with laughter, and the journos then unable to help themselves — was caught because the public had been ­invited to “watch live”.

The Northern Territory’s Chief Minister, Michael Gunner, caused a storm when he announced­ the cancellation of Cracker Night, saying “it’s sacred to the Territory … but it will be back in 2021, and we will get back to what we really love to do once a year: blowing stuff up”.

Then came the question from a reporter: “There are limits on how much alcohol we can purchase. Will we be allowed to get maggoted on July 1?”

Answer: Yes! But only in the privacy of your own home.

It’s the same abroad. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo managed to introduce some levity to his otherwise grim address last week when he lamented his daughters’ decision “to stop paying­ me rent”.

“I’m not even sure that their finances­ have dropped,” he said.

“I think they’re just taking advant­age of the order that I myself posted … There is nothing I can do about it, legally.”

Andrew Cuomo gives a press conference as Donald Trump and Mike Pence look on. Picture: AFP.

Cuomo’s brother Chris, who is host of Cuomo Prime Time on CNN (they’re the sons of former New York governor Mario Cuomo), has kept everyone entertained with updates from his basement, where he’s been seeing out the illness.

The public’s appetite is insati­able, and leaders are stepping up to provide the content: NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian comes on about 8am, then it’s Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk about 9am, and Victoria’s Daniel Andrews at 10am.

Gladys Berejiklian speaks to the media. Picture: AAP.

Morrison has tended to go for late afternoon or early evening events and has unquestionably taken some lessons from the bushfires. Some saw him as missing in action then. You can’t miss him now. Schools and hospitals? They are technically state issues, but Morrison has learned that the anxious nation will always turn to the federal government in times of crisis, and if he’s not talking, then the vacuum will be filled by commentators.

Sky News Australia chief executive Paul Whittaker says there is an “immense hunger” from viewers to “hear the news first-hand, from state and federal governments, and medical authorities”. They are seeing record ratings — up 85 per cent in some cases — with every major announcem­ent covered live.

The Australian’s social media editor, Elyse Popplewell, says the public­ation decided to broadcast every major announcement from Morrison and federal Health Minister Greg Hunt live on its Facebook page, as well as the website. Traffic jumped, “but the increas­e in people actively engaging, reacting, adding comments in real time, was most noteworthy. People who have previously watched passively, if at all, are now interacting­ live with the Prime Minister.”

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson gives a press conference. Picture: AP.

British PM Boris Johnson’s press conferences have also been carried live, and they tend to get a warm reaction because they’re so heartfelt. How could it be otherwise? Britain was invited to watch while he came close to death.

Yet surely the most mesmerising briefings are coming from the White House. The most in­famou­s one, in which President Donald Trump appeared to suggest that finding a way to get “light inside the body” might assist in the fight against COVID-19, is now the subject of a trillion take-down­s (the “How to medical” one by US comedian Sarah Cooper, where she goes to shine a desk lamp up her clacker, has alone been seen 15 million times).

President Donald Trump speaks about the coronavirus in the Rose Garden. Picture: AP

Australian comedian Greta Lee Jackson has found success with a clip showing people thanking celebrities for their concern during the crisis. It features a guy on a faded futon sofa, waiting for Centrelink­ to pick up the phone.

“I’ve lost my job. I’ve got no money … But this video of ­Amanda Keller dancing around in her massive kitchen is really getting me through,” he says.

They finish with: Thanks celeb­rities!

Network director of news and public affairs at Seven, Craig McPherson, said the network jumped willingly into around-the-clock coverage during the peak of the crisis, which has included “watch live” press conferences.

“With so much at stake, it was these moments that became significant TV events,” he said. “Fear can be a great driver of an audience and as a nation we were locked in fear for several weeks.”

Enormous political decisions — the whole nation must stay home — were being made incredibly quickly, and McPherson says Seven made the decision to delive­r them “immediately, in an instant, regardless of programming”. It was their responsibility, he said, to “throw schedules out the window to serve the community during this time”.

It was what people wanted: fast, and sometimes furious. Unedited, and in real time. And it all feeds into social media, which over time will churn it into something that can be shared around, like we’re not in the crisis of our lives but something manageable, even fun.

On Monday, for example, Nobel laureate Peter Doherty ­accidentally tweeted: “Dan Murphy opening hours.” He thought he was entering the words into Google, but sent them out into the world, instead.

And the world was delighted.

One wit responded: “If this anything to do with a clinical trial, sign me up.”

To which the prof replied “Whole lot safer than bleach”, a joke that wouldn’t exist without the live-stream of a White House coronavirus briefing watched, it seems, by pretty much everyone on Earth.