The days when people got their daily dose of politics from the evening news on the telly are over, writes columnist Stephen Bush in the UK's Financial Times ( This election will be the UK's first post-TV vote , May 27, 2024). Login or signup to continue reading Instead, says Bush, politics comes in short grabs from online websites and apps, video reels on TikTok and Instagram, memes on Facebook and X (Twitter). Everything is targeted.
People choose content carefully, as tribes, shutting out alternative views. Shared public debate is declining, says Bush, and UK society is fragmenting as a consequence. I suspect political discourse in Australia is going down the same path.
The Hunter is a good case study and the former member for Hunter an excellent yardstick. When Joel Fitzgibbon first stood as a candidate for the federal seat of Hunter in 1996, we watched his campaign on the local news. Both NBN and Prime had genuine evening news bulletins, local radio stations 2NC (ABC) and 2HD delivered political news by the hour, and this newspaper printed pages of coverage every day.
For Fitzgibbon, the novice, local media was the platform where he launched his political career even as nation-wide anti-Labor sentiment swept John Howard's Coalition into power. Fitzgibbon became a master of the media in his 26 years of office. He was a regular columnist on these pages, his voice was instantly recognised on local radio, he jousted with conservatives (like Barnaby Joyce) on national TV break.