Story one.
Dear politician, do you think people should knowingly assist others in breaking the law? What, you say ‘no they shouldn’t’? Hold the front page, I’ve got a scoop!
Story two.
Dear politician, might you want to lead your party one day? What, you might!? Hold the front page again. This is an amazing scoop discovering a politician who would fancy leading their party.
Story three.
Dear politician, if there is another hung Parliament, would you take the same approach as you did to the last one? What, you would? OMG! Someone saying they would do the same thing again! Unthinkable! Damn that front page, hold it once again.
If nothing else David Gauke, Vince Cable and Nick Clegg have demonstrated how stating the blindingly obvious often counts as news in the weird world of political reports. Of course all three could have chosen their words differently (especially Vince Cable); they are no novices when it comes to the news.
But next time you bemoan a politician not giving the obvious straight answer to a question, don’t blame them too much. Just look what happens when they do state the obvious.
* Mark Pack is a member of the Federal Board and editor of Liberal Democrat Newswire.
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5 Comments
*applause*
Lol! Spot on!
This illustrates precisely why politicians often answers to journalists’ questions that seem evasive. Often senior MPs tie themselves in knots answering that question about whether they might one day want to lead their party; story two, above, explains why … the media will make a mountain out of a molehill if they are just honest.
My answer to the first question would be YES – if it was a matter of conscience, other routes of opposition had been tried or were very obviously a waste of time, and my best analysis of the consequences of breaking the law – including encouragement to other people to break it for less good reasons – left me convinced it was worth it. Otherwise you are saying that no campaign of civil disobedience can ever be justified. You would be condemning people who sheltered escaped slaves in the U.S.A. before the Civil War, condemning people who violently resisted the early 1940s governments of France and Norway and condemning Nick Clegg for promising not to obey the law on identity cards if they were introduced.
The print media in this country are a worse scourge than politicians by a long shot. I almost feel sorry for politicians. The media are engaged in a constant campaign to ignore serious issues and talk about absolute trivia just because it is easier for them to do so. 90% of journalists have no conscience or intelligence and are deliberately inspiring to lower the tone of public life. They make me sick.