There is a very stark contrast between the fortunes of Boris Johnson and Jacinda Ardern at the moment. Both are prime ministers who started well but ended up being caught out by lies and deception of which they were both guilty. Boris has had a fairly rough year when it turned out that, in spite of imposing some of the toughest pandemic lockdowns in the world, he allowed his own MPs and parliamentary staff to hold regular parties – including one on the eve of Prince Philip’s funeral – some of which he attended himself.
In his usual style, he bumbled and blustered, but photographic evidence and eyewitness statements made a liar and a fool out of him. He could have fronted early on, apologised, said he had learned from his mistakes, and he might have got away with it. But no.
More recently, he has fallen deeper into the doo-doo by claiming that he was unaware of the rumours of Chris Pincher’s history of sexual offending after promoting him to a senior government role. It seems that he did know but appointed Pincher anyway. As a result he has faced senior ministerial resignations, and the writing on the wall has become reality, he has been forced to resign – although Boris being Boris, he still won’t go without a fight.
He met with Jacinda Ardern outside 10 Downing St last week, and it was a bizarre moment, as Boris appeared to be somewhat over-zealous with his handshake with Ardern… and members of the media pack in Downing St asked questions about whether or not the prime minister was ‘drowning in sleaze’.
The question that needed to be asked was – which prime minister was the media pack addressing?
They were addressing Boris, of course, who quickly ushered Ardern through the door of No 10. The media pack, relentless in its pursuit of Boris’s indiscretions, does what journalists are supposed to do and tried to hold the government to account.
If only that ever happened here.
After all, Jacinda is at least equally dishonest as Boris, with her latest blatant lie told in Australia, where she pretended that Kiwis living there missed out on flood relief earlier this year because they were not Australian citizens when they did receive emergency funding along with everyone else. Jacinda hates Scott Morrison though, and adores Anthony Albanese, so that was an easy lie to tell.
Did the New Zealand media hold her to account? Of course not. Not a whisper.
Nor did they hold her to account over the Labour sex scandal, approving residency for criminals such as Karel Sroubek, jobs for the boys such as Derek Handley, nepotism in government contracts for the Mahuta family, silently approving Trevor Mallard’s disgraceful behaviour when he falsely accused a man of rape and then allowing him to abuse the protesters in Wellington (although she clearly agreed with everything he did, including bringing in the full force of the police). You get the picture.
Nor has anyone in the media, to my knowledge, held the Labour Government to account for firing health workers who are not vaccinated when we have an acute staff shortage in our hospitals. The list goes on, with transgressions too many to remember where the media have stayed silent and the Government has got away with murder. Not a squeak from the press pack.
The difference, of course, is as obvious as it is illuminating. The British media have to fund themselves and therefore go after every story they can muster. They hold government ministers to account for the benefit of the British people. If they stayed silent and let the government get away with multiple transgressions, their newspapers and web pages would go broke, as people would switch to outlets that at least attempted to paint a truer picture.
But like in China and Russia, our media are funded by the Government. Not only are they funded, but beneficiaries of the funding are required to meet certain criteria, notably around the presentation of Maori, to qualify for funding.
So there you have it – a tale of two prime ministers. One who is held to account by the media in his country, and has been brought down by the lies and missteps he has taken, and the other who has made as many lies and missteps – if not more – but who gets away with it continually, because she has bought off the media.
One country is a democracy, and the other is effectively a dictatorship. This example really demonstrates the importance of independent media in any country. No politician is perfect, all politicians are primarily self-serving, but the British media pack are relentless, and when it is time for a prime minister to step down, they make it happen. But here? Jacinda can get away with anything. The Public Interest Journalism Fund makes sure of that.