The Tent Embassy incident is a media story worth studying in classes across the nation for years to come. Why? For the twin boast of becoming one of the most heavily documented stories in recent times — eyewitness accounts, footage shot inside and outside the venue and some stunning photography — and yet also vying for some kind of record for the most number of divergent and flat out contradictory accounts of an incident that took place in full view of hundreds of people. Encased in glass, no less.
But there’s one thing we did learn for sure. Among the deluge of information (or is that misinformation?) we learnt that Gillard was wearing Midas shoes. Size 36, to be exact.
So, yes, we’re in. We’re falling in line with every other media schmuck today and giving the quite upmarket shoe brand some more free publicity for what is, it must be said, a genius PR move on their part.
They’ve rebranded the shoe, slapped it on the front of their website, and now they’re watching the headlines roll in …
We wouldn’t want to be accused of reading too much into the strategy of a couple of marketing hot shots, but we can’t help ourselves. The shoe campaign, the whole Tent Embassy debacle in fact, is emblematic of one of the many problems Gillard can’t shake. She tries to go big, she tries the vision thing, and yet, and yet, every political gesture, almost every piece of policy, every piece of good economic news, is lost in triviality, reduced to the equivalent of a discussion around her large earlobes.
Gillard’s not alone here; this extends to politics as a whole. But where it works for Tony Abbott (upon listening to Channel Ten’s Paul Bongiorno valiantly attempt to go beyond “optics and perceptions” at the Press Club on Tuesday to press the opposition leader on why exactly his argument that the government is economically incompetent should be allowed to stand, Abbott reeled off a line about pink batts and cutting the waste), Gillard provides detail, but it doesn’t cut through.
Why? The media machine, her team, society’s obsession with trivial crap like shoes over substance?
No idea. Tell us if you know the answer. No, really, we’d like to know …
This crisis will cut hard and deep but one day it will be over.
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Peter Fray
Editor-In-Chief of Crikey
26 thoughts on “Shoes over substance”
Lloyd McDonald
February 2, 2012 at 1:14 pmSimple answer. The MSM in Australia has lost its collective marbles.
It plays perfectly into the hands of the opposition and pretty much allows them a free run in spinning bullshit and ensures Labor never gets its message out.
The only commentary worth reading these days is online in the blogs.
People like Greg Jericho and Andrew Elder make the hacks that pass for chief political correspondents – Shanahan, Grattan, Coorey, Crabbe etc look 5th rate.
2 examples that put them all to shame.
http://andrewelder.blogspot.com.au/2012/02/national-pikers-club.html
http://grogsgamut.blogspot.com.au/2012/02/drum-piece-and-national-press-club-rant.html
Stickey
February 2, 2012 at 1:19 pmTim Priest had a point (Oz 1.2.2012) when he said the debacle was partly caused by selective police response. Can anyone tell me why the so called Aboriginal Embassy is permitted to remain forever? Frankly I don,t see many “black” people, my hero, aboriginal person, with a very, very perceptive mind, occupying the said establishment.
Karen Churchill
February 2, 2012 at 1:24 pmI reckon Abbott cuts through and Julia too often doesn’t because Tony is still Tony, like him or love him. Whereas Julia just ain’t Julia. She has lost her authenticity and is at risk of losing her mojo by being caught up in the makeover machine.
Karen Churchill
February 2, 2012 at 1:26 pmBtw – I vote for the Gillard Mark 1 shoe – it’s much more funky!
Col in Sydney
February 2, 2012 at 1:27 pmThe simple reality with Gillard is that she is just not up to the job. This has nothing to do with her gender, it is all to do with her as an individual. The fact remains, however, that she is a woman, and the Lobby Riot fiasco demonstrates that part of her individual failing is an inability to effectively deal with her gender and it’s implications in her role.
The only reason, the ONLY reason, anything that happened at the Lobby restaurant on Australia Day made news was that Julia Gillard, our first female PM, was knocked arse over tit by one of the police officers who were ostensibly there to protect her. The reality is that this incompetent dickhead would never have dreamed of laying hands on the Prime Minister if the PM had been a man.
Look at what happened with Abbott – he was just strolling along beside Gillard until the bald, incompetent Bruce Willis fantasist became the first person in history to physically assault an Australian Prime Minister. And why did this happen? Because Julia Gillard chose to play the role of subservient female “we-can’t-second-guess-our-security-team” non-entity, rather than be PM.
However, what is absolutely damning of Gillard, and the reason I hope she is gone soon, is that she not only continued to buy into the “West Wing” fantasy bullshit of her security team, the Keystone Kops, she then set about accusing the small mob of professional political protestors who were banging on the windows of being “dangerous” and “violent” – she is just a lying bitch.
The only people who were dangerous and violent at the Lobby restaurant on Australia Day were Gillard’s security team and the uniformed police scum who turned up to push people around when they were called. The fact that Gillard was incapable of asserting her authority over these people, either before, during or after the event, demonstrates clearly she is just incapable of the job.
Lyn Gain
February 2, 2012 at 1:41 pmI never thought I would say something like this, but the main answer to your questions is ‘Because she’s a woman’, and secondarily because she leads a minority government. I dislike some of Gillard’s policies, especially asylum seekers, and I think she was very stupid to be talked into ousting Rudd, but there must be a deep seated reason for the lack of respect with which she has been treated by the media, the opposition and the general public.It isn’t because she has made a number of expedient policy changes – look at Howard and his core promises. I can’t think of any other explanation that fits the bill.
Perry Gretton
February 2, 2012 at 1:53 pmGillard has suffered in the same way as Obama, namely being under a constant barrage of negativity from day one. That kind of thing establishes a ‘normal’ state – a sort of inverse halo effect – that is difficult to overcome. Thus success is seen as failure (the BER was a success – just what Australia needed at a crucial time), achievements gain faint praise, powerful interests are able to negate proposed legislation, and trivial issues are portrayed as major embarrassments. I doubt very much whether this will change, given the hyperbole from the Opposition over the Australia Day fiasco.
(For the record, I’m not a Labor voter.)
Perry Gretton
February 2, 2012 at 1:54 pmHer being a woman is like Obama being black – they’re not seen as legitimate holders of high office.
Mr Pajama Pudding
February 2, 2012 at 1:56 pmParaphrased from a comment on Grog’s Gamut:
Five factors –
1. The consumers of media respond quickest to titillation, innuendo, scandal, gossip. They get what they want. The world has been overwhelmed by floods of trivia – the “wisdom of the crowd” in action…..
2. Journalists can detect dog whistles, but they are also experts at detecting what their employers want (but often dont say out loud) – media corporations have veteran dog whistlers in charge.
3. Journalism in Australia is a very small pond, run by people with long memories and a history of vindicative punishment/revenge. Refer 2 above.
4. Fear & loathing of the affect of the NBN on traditional media. This seems to result in a (subliminal?) groupthink bias against Labor in favour of the NBN-hating Coalition. Refer 2 and 3 above.
5. Journalists worldwide are succumbing to the quick sound bite and instant opinion. Young journalists are often inexperienced philistines, while tired, older journalists are dragged into the new instant reporting and are reactively doing what is best for ensuring survival of their own careers. Refer 1,2, 3 and 4 above.
Abbott works all of the above to his benefit. It’s probably a kind of genius to remain so committed for so long to moronic sloganeering, but beyond the rhetoric lies…….nothing. Going beyond the rhetoric is a bridge too far for many journalists – refer 1 to 5 above.
ernmalleyscat
February 2, 2012 at 1:58 pmOne of the reasons is that many of us see this dilemma, yet we don’t have a widely seen media outlet with which to counteract it by reporting the policy substance rather than the politics and ‘optics’ of it all.
Oh, but wait … you do.
Why you choose not to is another question that I can’t fathom.
No idea. Tell me if you know the answer. No, really, I’d like to know …