Is news media coverage of the Parliament protest throwing fuel on the fire?

Thursday, 17 February 2022

On RNZ/Newsroom's The Detail podcast, Emile Donovan and Sharon Brettkelly speak to three journalists reporting on the protest about how it’s unfolded, how they’ve covered it and what’s so different about it.

An academic who specialises in studying social movements and popular protests says the media’s “reality TV” coverage of the Parliament protest is fuelling its longevity.

But a prominent media commentator has defended the live and in-depth coverage saying it's of enduring public interest, and a reduction in it would allow misinformation to thrive.

Associate Professor Marcelle Dawson, head of the University of Otago’s sociology programme, says the potential for violence at the anti-mandate and anti-vaccine protest is growing by the day, and turning the nation’s eyes away from it could lower the risk.

“Had the media not treated this protest like a form of reality TV, I think it would have died down a few days ago,” Dawson said.

Marcelle Dawson said the protest seemed as if it had turned into a festival, but the risk of violence is growing.

“The protestors have been energised by the attention. They’re essentially having a festival which gives them one of the things they have been excluded from since the mandates came into play.”

* Live: Police Association chief says Parliament protest expected to last three months as it enters its 10th day

Children being placed in the middle of harm’s way meant the police had to act with “extreme caution”, Dawson says.

* Convoy protest: Police face serious credibility gap as protest grows after towing threat

* Covid-19: As hundreds rallied at Parliament, another mandate tussle played out in Te Aroha

Dawson said the ever-growing resourcing of the protesters – food, clothing, straw and money gained through crowdfunding – was largely a consequence of receiving so much attention over the last week.

“I may be wrong about this, but starving these folks of mainstream media attention might deflate them,” Dawson said.

“They’ll always have a voice on social media, but without the whole nation’s eyes … I believe they’ll get bored and annoyed with each other.“

But media commentator Gavin Ellis said NZ’s media had a duty to keep the public informed on events that challenge – legitimately or otherwise – the rule of law.

Walking through the protest on the grounds of Parliament on Tuesday night. The occupation has taken on a festival-like atmosphere.

“Parliament is the seat of our democracy and what occurs within its precincts is a matter of enduring public interest.”

News blackouts for reasons other than public safety– for example during a kidnapping or hostage situations – were a slippery slope, Ellis said, and would be ineffectual and counter-productive.

“It would not stop ‘coverage’ by alternative sources such as Counterspin and social media. Worse, a blackout by mainstream media would allow free rein to the dispersal of disinformation.”

Problems in the protest camp?

Dawson said she understands why police have acted with “extreme caution” with the protesters, who were not bringing about the progressive social change that NZ would look back on favourably.

“It is not only a group of peaceful protesters out there. There are children in the mix, so I imagine that the police will not want to up the ante by taking a more decisive stance for fear that the more fringe elements will respond irrationally.

“Most groups of protestors are diverse in terms of their demographics, but the ideological contradictions that are apparent here have made it difficult, I think, for the normal procedures that are part of protest policing to unfold.”

Dawson said there was a real risk the protestors could turn on each other and the growing frustrations of Wellingtonians unable to go about their normal business could “add fuel to the fire”.

She said the protesters didn’t have a common goal that could hold them together for long because what they wanted was a return to “normal life” rather than social change.

“There are some major flaws in their rationalisations. I don’t think that they fully grasp that the pandemic has changed the world as we know it.

“I think they might still clamour for freedom once mandates are dropped, because everyday life and ways of being that they are used to will be different - mandate or no mandate.”