“Call me anti-establishment, call me anything you like.”
A Q&A with Nine News WA state political editor Gary Adshead, by Andrew Murdoch.
The shoe was on the other foot and the notepad was in the other hand when student reporter Andrew Murdoch door-stopped Nine News state political editor Gary Adshead after the Politics and the Press panel discussion in Perth on Saturday.
Here is what Gary had to say.
What excites you about covering politics?
Gary Adshead: Getting the document they don’t want you to have. You know finding out what they don’t want you to know. It is simple. Call me anti-establishment, call me anything you like. But getting that bit of info they didn’t want you to have and putting on the front page or the start of a bulletin.
Did anything that was spoken about by the panel take you by surprise?
Not overly, no. I think the problem of shrinking newsroom is the biggest one and I think we tiptoe around that a little in terms of how serious that is because of what is not being covered. Parliament in WA used to have five dedicated reporters. At the moment there is probably two.
Those issues are the biggest worry for democracy, if you like, that we are not putting the resources in. We are going for the big sugar-hit type stories and then moving on but there is probably not enough follow up in the industry.
What would happen in a world without journalists?
I’m not suggesting that every politician is dishonest and I’m not suggesting every political party is out to dupe the public. But by God it would be easy for them without journalists.
It would be so easy for them to do it. To not have to front a press conference to explain why they have done something. To be able to just do it and put it out there. North Korea would happen. It would just be carte blanche. No one would argue, no one would contest, most people would be completely uninformed.
What is the benefit for politicians to be upfront with the media?
I think the best thing politicians can do is face controversial issues early. I think some are getting better at that.
Journalists like the fact that we can trip up a politician…. We are categorically still living in a world where the Government and politicians want to control how things are reported and so it is our job to make sure they don’t get that level of control. If they are smart they will say it straight because it will always come unstuck if they don’t.
And lastly, does the public value the role and work of political journalists?
I know Joe Blow out there is not going to care too much about some government policy that I might be writing about. But you still have to do it because there is enough of an audience that will take an interest.
Generally speaking people are busy doing their thing, living their lives, things come along that might affect them. But you just have to do it, if you don’t start doing it you get a situation where people are blind to what is going on and just a little bit of information can go a long way.
The Shining A Light Newsroom was supported by Edith Cowan University. See the full Shining A Light Newsroom coverage here.
