Boring campaign

November 8, 2007, 8:42pm,  205 views

Can the election campaign get any more boring? The party machines and media seem more interested in gaffes than policies. The candidates want to avoid them and the media want to record them.

The ministerial stoushes at the National Press Club have been reported on the basis of who made what stumble, rather than what they said.

Is this the media’s fault, or is it a deliberate tactic by the parties? A bit of both, I think. The parties want to control the message that’s delivered and therefore contrive to avoid impromptu opportunities.

The media knows spin from substance and tries to avoid being ensnared in the game, with limited success.

Labor, in particular, is trying to avoid making any stupid mistakes. The longer the campaign lacks spark though, the more I suspect it favors the government.