But who’s at fault here? I suspect the reason politicians like Luxon get into trouble is that they rely far too much on media coaches. They are schooled to stick to pre-determined “talking points” which quickly become clichés and jargon that voters see straight through.
Luxon is hardly the first politician to fall into this trap. And though she’s harsh in her criticism of him, I believe people like Wilson (who runs her own media training firm) are part of the problem.
Communications advisers are a relatively recent phenomenon that has contaminated the political process by getting in between politicians and the public and blurring their message. They are obsessively risk-averse and wield altogether too much influence. Some politicians, and I suspect Luxon is one, become far too dependent on them and afraid to trust their own judgment and instincts (assuming they have any).
Previous generations of politicians didn’t have this problem; they spoke directly, said what they thought and were generally respected for it, even if people didn’t agree. Their message wasn’t filtered through layers of obfuscatory flim-flam.
Some politicians still operate that way. Winston Peters is an example and so is David Seymour. Chris Hipkins too gives the impression that he gives genuine and spontaneous responses to questions, though he’s politically far more astute than Luxon and much more nimble.
Of course there remains the possibility that the reason Luxon sounds shallow, unconvincing and unsure of himself is that he’s shallow, unconvincing and unsure of himself. Even so, he could hardly do any worse if he ignored whatever media advice he’s getting.
Luxon is hardly the first politician to fall into this trap. And though she’s harsh in her criticism of him, I believe people like Wilson (who runs her own media training firm) are part of the problem.
Communications advisers are a relatively recent phenomenon that has contaminated the political process by getting in between politicians and the public and blurring their message. They are obsessively risk-averse and wield altogether too much influence. Some politicians, and I suspect Luxon is one, become far too dependent on them and afraid to trust their own judgment and instincts (assuming they have any).
Previous generations of politicians didn’t have this problem; they spoke directly, said what they thought and were generally respected for it, even if people didn’t agree. Their message wasn’t filtered through layers of obfuscatory flim-flam.
Some politicians still operate that way. Winston Peters is an example and so is David Seymour. Chris Hipkins too gives the impression that he gives genuine and spontaneous responses to questions, though he’s politically far more astute than Luxon and much more nimble.
Of course there remains the possibility that the reason Luxon sounds shallow, unconvincing and unsure of himself is that he’s shallow, unconvincing and unsure of himself. Even so, he could hardly do any worse if he ignored whatever media advice he’s getting.
Karl du Fresne, a freelance journalist, is the former editor of The Dominion newspaper. This article was republished from his blog which can be found at karldufresne.blogspot.co.nz.
6 comments:
Jacinda sounded far more shallow than Luxon, but the difference is that her, Hipkins, and the equally shallow Green and TPM politicians all have the media promoting them. No matter how ridiculous they sound, the media try to make them sound credible. The media, like Stuff, have been against Luxon from the start.
Devious maori at school had lerned that by not spontaneously answering questiosn, the questioner could not fathome which answers were honest and which thought up on the spot. Luxon gabbles set piece answers and very obviously is gasping when the going gets difficult.It does not command respect.
What I say to you is, he is so boring to listen too. What I say to you is he keeps using the same beginning to every question.
Yes, and what I will say is: It is bl**dy annoying and fatuous!
Unfortunately Luxon has NOT spent his own money in business , made his own earnings and funded a pay roll in hard times . Luxon is a corporate whose large salary is plonked repeatedly into his account, Luxon cannot understand that VOTERS want him to perform and settle the huge ethnicity issues that are compounding daily . STEP up Luxon or allow Maureen Pugh to ask hard questions.
Quote: "... STEP up Luxon or allow Maureen Pugh to ask hard questions. ...". Presactly - and gain some respect at the same time.
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