The Party Election Broadcasts: A Sleeping Giant or an Old Pair of Shoes?

The relationship between the political parties and the broadcasters has become increasingly strained in recent years. Politicians have blamed the media for a fixation with personalities, trivialising the issues and focusing on the horse-race nature of an election. Journalists in turn have blamed politicians for delivering sound bites, evading difficult questions and spinning the truth. Technological innovation has heightened these tensions by enabling participants to engage in lightning-fast exchanges of information, interpretation and opinion. It seems that the one inviolable law of political communications is that increased velocity increases friction. ¹