22nd September 1998
A photograph showed her and Malcolm Farr, the chief political reporter for
The Daily Telegraph, with Hanson. One conclusion a casual browser
might have drawn was that two of the country's senior political journalists
were friendly with, if not active supporters of, One Nation.
The truth was rather different. As Margo Kingston tells it, she and Farr
went to Hanson's victory celebration in Ipswich to confirm interviews for
the following day. They decided to have a photo taken with Hanson for their
reporters' scrapbooks. An unknown One Nation supporter decided to snap the
same picture and make it available to the Web site.
Kingston offers her experience as evidence that One Nation is continally
looking for opportunities to turn the tables on the mainstream media.
"They're constantly filming us filming them. From now on, if I'm on the trail
of Hanson, I'll be aware that I'm on stage myself," Margo said.
It's widely acknowledged that One Nation is highly distrustful of the mainstream
media and that the party has consciously exploited other forums to get its
message out, with particular attention to the Internet.
Kingston's story reveals another consequence of this antipathy towards the
mainstream media: One Nation has little respect for the usual protocols which
govern the relationship between the media and politicians.
Despite the hostility which sometimes flares up between reporters and
politicians, political reporting is actually bound by informal but well-observed
rules. Behind the scences, pollies and journos sometimes break bread together
and even develop friendships.
Political reporters and politicians are a bit like opposing football teams
who are ready to kill each other on the field to gain an advantage but often
have a lot in common off the field.
Journalists respect confidences and, in Australian politics at least, they're
still wary of crossing the line between public and private behaviour in their
reporting. Politicians may be publicly scathing about the media at times,
but they're keenly aware they need journalists, andthey often feed them stories
on the sly.
One Nation's relationship with the media has never been circumscribed by
these unwritten rules of engagement. From the outset, One Nation has distrusted
political reporters, and political journalists have been sceptical of the
party's political methods and policies.
The most recent example of One Nation's refusal to play by the usual rules
of engagement was what at first appeared to be the appropriation of copyright
material, written by Fairfax journalists, for use on a Web site linked to
One Nation.
The Web site, Australian National News of the Day, is operated by Scott Balson,
the managing director of Interactive Presentations Pty Ltd (trading as Global
Web Builders), who described himself to this columnist as "Pauline Hanson's
Webmaster".
The content of Web sites and their links are obviously subject to change
and, what's more, ambiguous. However, when I called up the Australian National
News of the Day site on Monday morning and clicked on the Global Web Builder's
icon, I was linked to the One Nation Web site.
Balson subsequently explained to me that if I'd tried a more specific URL,
I'd have been linked to the Global Web Builder's promotional page, and from
there I would have gone on to Today's News for free and then, on a subscription
basis, been offered a subscription to the archives of Australian National
News of the Day.
Scott Balson, who gathers the information for Australian National News of
the Day, says, in a disclaimer, that his site is "in no way connected with
Pauline Hanson's One Nation". But he also told me in an phone interview on
Monday night that his news site documented "the rise and rise of Pauline
Hanson" and that he substantially agrees with her views.
Last Thursday, a number of Fairfax reporters were shocked to find their articles
appearing on the Web under the banner of Australian National News of the
Day, a subscriber site which charges viewers for full access. The Web site
is run by Scott Balson.
In a reply to a Fairfax lawyer, Scott Balson claimed there was a "coding"
problem which resulted in the false impression that Fairfax material had
been stored on the site. He also claimed that Australian National News of
the Day has "absolutely no association with One Nation" and that the information
presents "the author's own views on daily issues affecting Australians".
Putting the coding claim aside, readers can check out the last assertion
for themselves at
www.gwb.com.au/gwb/news/daily.html.
The Internet is an ephemeral, slippery medium with a high turnover of material.
Tracking breaches of copyright, passing off, and defamation law isn't easy.
When it comes to politics, though, and the obvious interest minor parties
have in legitimising themselves by association with senior political journalists
and large media organisations, it appears that the nightmare is descending
on individual writers - often without the benefit of evidence that will stand
up in court.
As celebrities who've had their heads pasted on to the bodies of porn stars
have already found out, the digital age has made it far easier to misrepresent
individuals and their intentions. Unlike mainstream media organisations,
the people who run Web sites have a greater chance of avoiding detection.
As One Nation has demonstrated, and Clinton knows well, the Internet is changing
the face of politics. It's continually blurring the boundaries between the
authorised and the ad hoc.
Whether politicians and commentators will ever find those changes as easy
to monitor as the effects of television or print media is, at this point,
extremely doubtful.
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