by Kyriakos Gold
I am not for long form posts, but this is a very critical time for our country and each of us has a responsibility to fight with all we got.
We have been studying throughout the #australian #bushfires the government narratives and communication strategies during this time of crisis and I urge you to be sceptical of the information you see online.
Firstly we witnessed the blame game in terms of Federal vs State government while the Australian PM Scott Morrison (ScoMo) was on an overseas holiday. #wherethebloodyhellareyou
Now (months later) the PM is sending the Australian Defence Force to help, contradicting this original narrative.
Then there was the false accusation that the #Greens (who are not in government on any level) are responsible for the lack of hazard reduction burning which in fact is not even their policy. #fakenews
Crazy, but most people fell for it.
Then we saw the #Murdoch controlled media attempting to downplay the fires.
The Australian, Rupert Murdoch’s flagship newspaper for example did not even use a picture of the disaster on the front page of an edition, even as newspapers across the world featured the harrowing scenes. Before readers got to that coverage, they were given an exclusive interview with “rebel marine scientist Peter Ridd” who has challenged reef scientists to test whether or not human actions have caused a collapse in the growth rate of corals on the Great Barrier Reef.
On New Year’s Eve, Melbourne’s the Herald Sun also relegated the bushfires to page 4, even as thousands of Victorians faced a serious bushfire threat.
The list goes on!
A media strategy that assumes that if people and audiences are not directly in contact with the fire will never know the truth; and if they are in contact with the fire, oh well that vote is lost anyway.
When the #coalition lead Federal government was criticised for not supporting the State operations & releasing funds for fire fighting volunteer support, Peta #Credlin, a well known Skynews commentator and controversial ex Chief of Staff of Liberal PM Tony Abbott, went as far to argue how paying volunteers that are helping put out the fires could open the floodgates for other volunteer groups to be paid (!!!).
The story became too big to quash as smoke covered the bigger part of NSW, Victoria and now South Australia with many dead or unaccounted for. An area bigger than Belgium is burnt, over 500 million animals lost and as stories of how Australian water is being sold to offshore companies enhancing the droughts started appearing online, more and more people started becoming angry.
However the real pressure came from #Victoria.
The Victorian Premier Dan Andrews showcased strong leadership, an empathetic style and the ability to connect with people when at the same time lead an effective emergency operation.
The Victorian Premier quickly highlighted the PM’s lack of leadership and general plan.
Andrews -a Labor leader with no party links to the Federal government- has experienced first hand the fires of Black Saturday in 2009 and has spent years preparing for a crisis of this sort. He was ready and that was clear when in time he declared a State of Disaster.
Competing with a popular and effective leader like Andrews especially during this crisis, would have been a risky move so the PM’s comms team shifted focus and blame to the #NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian.
I am sceptical of what has really happened in NSW.
The NSW Premier is a conservative leader who failed to argue in favour of climate change approving #budgetcuts to the emergency services like the fire brigade.
However she has been there everyday working with the rest of her team - or what’s left of it as strangely her Emergency Services Minister David Elliott went on a holiday.
While the Premier’s team was putting out fires and the State was covered in smoke she was accused falsely that she refused help from the Federal government via the Australian Defence Force when the ADF had been already been supporting firefighting efforts in NSW since at least November.
I can only assume how restricted the NSW Premier would be in her communications strategy as she belongs to the same party with the Federal government - a party ruled by white middle aged anglo men while she is an ethnic female leader.
I feel that a liberal party scape goat could be just what the PM needs to keep his job.
Discrediting the NSW Premier however isn’t the only Federal government comms move.
The growing unpopularity of the PM is polarising media and making conservative commentators attacking fire victims or fire fighters that are not following the government narratives.
We witness daily vile attacks on citizens who are refusing to shake the PMs hand during his admittedly delayed visits in towns that are affected by the fires.
We are already seeing a bunch of “informative” government announcements on social media -blatant political ads- that tell us how the Federal government is being proactive and the narratives are followed to a T by the Murdoch press.
The narrative is war like with focus on the ADF equipment and future pledges of the Federal government without any mention of the fact that they are at least a few weeks late and while powerful media commentators continue to dismiss the link between climate change and fires.
In terms of the federal opposition less is more.
A very low key presence in media, humility in terms of leadership style and focus on the crisis rather than the opponent seem to be doing wonders for the post election wounded federal #Labor party. Probably Anthony Albanese’s best move so far, indicating what to expect from him in the future #Albo.
So, what to expect?
As the PMs popularity is dropping, don’t be surprised if Jenny — his wife lends a helping help (to showcase the family compassion) in as no-one wants the shake her husband’s hand.
There will most certainly be a number of repair moves for the PM’s image including focusing on climate change deniers, linking the ADF and him making him appear a strong leader connected to the army and maybe a play on international terror on the unfolding US — Iran war stage.
Whatever it takes to change the agenda.
We may even get a tax cut or two, and cuts to our energy bills for the winter #freecoal .
If the fires keep on burning till March we may see a drastic change in policy.
If all of the above doesn’t work, I estimate the gradual rise (starting February) of a secondary leader within the coalition that will eventually take ScoMo’s place.
After all, Australian PMs lately have a very short life cycle.
Why stop with this one.
Notes
In time of crisis always consider who says what, for what reason — and on which medium.
In terms of platforms:
Twitter is generally more informed. Academics, professionals, journalists researchers dominate that space. Less pictures more words. Happens live. Not so popular with the mass.
Facebook, well not so credible but it is the new television. Lot’s of fake news, lots of visuals and easily manipulated conversations by trolls & robots. The real focus of political parties. Also a questionable algorithm for organic posts.
Instagram, well it belongs to Facebook, it is pretty and most of the engagement happens in private posts (aka stories).
YouTube, as you listen to your favourite music — you will be bombarded with paid ads, you won’t even know how your opinion was changed.
Free to air TV, radio and print, well you know who owns what, so you be the judge of it.
I leave you with the hope that we lose no more souls and that you and your families are safe.
Stay tuned to the ABC News for emergency broadcasts and follow instructions from the authorities.
We will get though this.
#auspol #australia
Kyriakos Gold is the founder & CEO of Just Gold Digital Agency, the first full service creative and consulting agency in Australia that is a certified social enterprise
