Of course there’s a symbiotic relationship between media and politics

Chris Uhlmann on the Today show on the Nine Network this morning.

The Prime Minister and his supporters understandably have been paranoid and desperate of late — as the saying goes, just because you’re paranoid doesn’t mean the bastards aren’t out to get you — and now they face their denouement.

In this era of Fake News, the claims of media conspiracies need addressing, even while issues remain unresolved. Malcolm Turnbull and his supporters have been complaining that the leadership crisis has been fuelled by the media, with NewsCorp commentators, Sky News hosts and Fairfax radio voices all apparently cooperating to bring him down.

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The issue was given particular prominence this morning when former ABC news reporter and now Nine Network political editor Chris Uhlmann aired the gripes from inside the Turnbull camp. He suggested the media commentators had become players in the political process. Well, welcome to politics, it has ever been thus.

Anyone who thinks there is not a symbiotic relationship between media and politics doesn’t understand it. There is a famous quote that sums this up perfectly. Often attributed to Winston Churchill it might actually belong to Enoch Powell: “A politician complaining about the media is like a sailor complaining about the sea.”

"News corporations...are waging a war against the Prime Minister of Australia" - @CUhlmann #9Today pic.twitter.com/UaQBLTv0bQ

— The Today Show (@TheTodayShow) August 22, 2018

The astonishing thing about the Turnbull camp’s complaint is the hypocrisy. They used the media expertly to tear down Tony Abbott. They had most of the Canberra press gallery onside, the ABC was chief barracker, Fairfax was along for the ride, all the progressive digital media were too and there were plenty of supporters in NewsCorp and on Sky News. The media campaign against Abbott was relentless, vicious, often unfair and unmistakable. Turnbull would never have become Prime Minister without it.

Much of it was underhanded; less about open commentary and more about twisted news priorities and angles. It was fuelled by anonymous leaks and backgrounding so, in many respects, it was devious and dishonest. Still, that is politics. It is a brutal business.

The difference with the media opposition to Turnbull has been how forthright it has been. Some Sky News hosts, some Fairfax radio hosts and some NewsCorp columnists have made clear from the outset their dismay at how Abbott was brought down and their despair about the Liberal Party drifting to the Left.

Nobody could accuse Andrew Bolt, Peta Credlin (Abbott’s former chief of staff), Alan Jones, Ray Hadley or Paul Murray of hiding their lights under a bushel. You might disagree with their views or criticise their tone but you have to respect their frankness and consistency.

As a former chief of staff to Turnbull my approach has been more circumspect. The knifing of Abbott seemed a retrograde step in Coalition politics and national life but having worked for Turnbull in opposition when Abbott felled him, I could hardly deny my former boss his ambition and have tried to focus my commentary on what he needed to do to make it work. Still, while I feel for him, his family and his staff personally, it is hard to have any political sympathy for the Prime Minister now when he is suffering the same fate he meted out.

Even to the end Turnbull has had much more media support than antipathy. The public broadcasters, Fairfax, digital media, most of the gallery and a host of prominent NewsCorp and Sky News commentators have consistently encouraged his success.

One of his longstanding strategic errors has been to play to his media cheerleaders rather than attempt to win over conservatives by addressing them through their preferred media channels.

All this is a long-winded way of saying that all politicians rise and fall partly on their media management and media support (although it is often less significant than they and the media like to think because voters have a happy knack of making up their own minds) and Turnbull is no different.

The real story here is that his media support has been stronger than any challenger — indeed no challenger even emerged until this week — and that his detractors have been up front and easily identified. It is pretty feeble to complain about that, especially just three years after harnessing undeclared and widespread media complicity.