Filibuster

I was going to talk about their coverage of the Napier tragedy. Then I thought about their coverage of Rankin's appointment or the Melissa Lee fiasco. But the filibuster happened first and this TV3 story got my gander up.

The filibuster has a long history going back to ancient Rome - although it seems the Yanks were the first to use the term. While it's often seen as a form of grandstanding - a way of making a point - it is also a tool to try and force the hand of the majority in the house. The tactic has a long history in New Zealand and National used it in the last parliament to make their point about the Electoral Finance Bill.

It would seem that the Opposition's main purpose in Parliament this weekend is to slow down the bills setting up the new Auckland city council structure. They're also using it to make their points. There is no doubt that we know a lot more about the content of these bills because of Labour's decision to filibuster but there is so much more we could know. We won't find out by watching TV3.

I think this sort of reporting is a bloody insult. New Zealanders are woefully ill informed about their own democratic process. A sort of "bloody politicians" syndrome is endemic. This concerns me because I think this sort of apathy works against constructive and active participation in the democratic process and I can't see the point in a democratic process if not everyone participates. I think it's bred of ignorance and is actively reinforced by commercial media because there's so much entertainment value in reducing the activities of the legislature to some sort of game.

TV3 (and most of the other news outlets, actually) have a wonderful opportunity in this current debate to inform people about the Parliamentary process. About the history of filibustering and it's uses in New Zealand. About the select committee process. About the REASONS for the current situation. Instead they turn it into a sort of jokey, reality TV report.

If TV3 had used even a fraction of the resources on this subject that they did rushing TV stars to be "at the scene" of the Napier tragedy( even though they couldn't add anything more to our knowledge of the situation than the usual 20 year old reporters) we could have had some interesting coverage. But they didn't. Shame, really.

P.S.
Interestingly, one of the most famous and longest running filibusters in history was also over a local body amalgamation and the parallels between that process and ours (and Mike Harris and Rodney Hide) are illuminating.