Filzmaier analyzes – When the tail wags the dog

1. Ideally, independent journalists have a control function over politicians. On the one hand there are reports and analyzes – what happens when, where, why, as journalistic W questions – but also comments as critical opinion elements. On the other hand, research reveals politicians’ mistakes and scandals.

2. In contrast, government and party politicians want to control what the media does and how. This may be passed as laws – from media financing to the broadcasting law for the ORF. In addition, there may be questionable procedures on the part of politicians. It would be especially bad if there were pressure from politicians, depending on the media content, ads would be paid for more or less with taxpayers’ money as a reward or punishment.

3. Or political actors misuse the meaning of the laws they make. For example, when party political factions are banned in the supervisory body of the ORF, but one organizes, discusses and coordinates in “groups of friends” of the respective party. In this way, the parties can influence the filling of the top positions and the budget.

4. In addition to such power structures, there are every day attempts to influence journalists. Of course, press officers do their job when they present something in a way that suits a politician and his party. The feature film “Wag the Dog” shows where this can lead in extreme cases. In English, this means that the tail is wagging the dog.

5. The US president is embroiled in a sex scandal. His colleague hires Robert De Niro to play the “spin doctor” who devises war as a diversionary tactic to turn things around. against Albania. Why Albania? Why not Albania? Nobody knows anything about Albania, so you can tell and show people everything.

6. The media is falling for it. A legendary dialogue between De Niro and Anne Heche goes like this: “Deny we’re using the B3 bomber!” recommends the spin doctor. The spokeswoman is surprised: “There is no B3 bomber at all.” To which he: “I say yes, strongly deny that we will use him!” Promptly, all television stations and newspapers reported on the possible use of the bomber instead of the sex scandal.

7. As a more harmless variant, we know in Austria that politicians present themselves as sportsmen, folk musicians or hobby gardeners. Or with a happy family and equally happy pets. There are always media reports about it. Even though the message value is null. Added to this is the red-white-red problem of “overbearing”. There used to be stories that people talked to each other about alcohol until late in the evening, or the journalist got an “inflammation” as confidential information. Or the politician comes up with his dream story.

8. The opposite of such fraternization and mutual benefit is the phenomenon that politicians see journalists as quasi-enemies. That is absurd, because in democracies everyone who holds public office has to constantly explain their work. Ex-Chancellor Werner Faymann (SPÖ) did not come to Zeit im Bild 2 more than 20 times in a row because he did not like the questions. Pamela Rendi-Wagner (SPÖ) and Chancellor Karl Nehammer (ÖVP) didn’t even do that when they gave keynote speeches that every Austrian should know.

9. Did they let hundreds of thousands of viewers down just because they didn’t like the interviewer, the topic, and the way the questions were approached? In any case, both politicians and the media are doing something wrong. Research into the image of professional groups shows poor trust values ​​for politicians and moderate trust values ​​for journalists. When it comes to trust in institutions, government and opposition are clearly in the red, while parties are even worse off. However, media do not have better values ​​in the APA/OGM trust index. Therefore, both parties would do well to maintain a professional relationship with each other.

10. Oh, and the best comes last? no Rather, there is an unpopular conclusion: one should criticize politicians who present themselves in the media without in-depth content. Journalists who obediently report on political self-praise deserve just as much criticism. But don’t politicians and media also do that because there is an audience among us that seems to like it?