By Jemimah Clegg, Friday 28 March 2014
Gender equality, abortion law, a government loosing public support, and an ambitious former ‘boy mayor’. Sounds like an episode of The West Wing or the Amy Pohler comedy series Parks and Recreation.
These are actually some of the issues reported by the media with the news that Victorian Community Services Minister Mary Wooldridge had become seat-less.
The story unfolded over three weeks, leading to the point where Ms Wooldridge took the place of retiring upper house member Jan Kronberg.
But let’s go back to the first day of coverage, and see how different media platforms reported Ms Wooldridge’s loss.
On Sunday 2 March 2014, Ms Wooldridge lost her bid for the seat of Kew. Her seat of Doncaster was abolished in a redistribution last year. Premier Denis Napthine had publicly endorsed her for the Kew seat.
At around lunchtime on the same day, an article was published on The Age online. The journalist, Richard Willingham, reported the loss as an “embarrassing blow” for the Napthine government. He then went onto explain the seat had been won by 30 year old Tim Smith, the former Mayor of Stonnington.
This first online article mostly reported what had happened. It didn’t go into much further detail about the implications Ms Wooldridge’s loss would have, aside from stating how bad it was for the Napthine government.
“The Age/Neilsen poll this weekend found that Dr Napthine’s government was trailing the Labor Opposition 47-53 on a two party preferred basis,” Willingham wrote in his online article.
The next day The Age printed another article by Willingham also detailing the circumstances surrounding Ms Wooldridge’s loss despite Dr Napthine’s endorsement.
Added to the print story were reports that a number of senior Liberal women had concerns about female representation in the party.
“Many argue that the principle of the merit-based candidate is in tatters given Ms Wooldridge, a senior cabinet minister with an MBA from Harvard, has vastly more experience than Mr Smith,” Willingham wrote in his print article.
The Herald Sun also published an article in their print edition on Monday 3 March. It didn’t mention the concern over female representation in the party.
When asked about his choice to include these reports in his article in The Age, Willingham said after filing the story online the previous day, he wanted to add more to it for the paper on Monday.
He said he was not looking specifically for that particular angle, but as he researched, it became apparent.
“It was an issue that came up when talking to Liberal sources,” he said.
Similarly, the inclusion of the abortion issue was something Willingham found mentioned when talking to people about Ms Wooldridge’s loss.
“It is understood some campaigning against Ms Wooldridge focused on the fact she voted to decriminalise abortion in 2008. The Kew branch is considered socially conservative,” Willingham wrote.
As many read their morning paper, Neil Mitchell interviewed former Premier Jeff Kennentt on 3AW Mornings. The interview provided analysis of the situation and used Mr Kennett as an authoritative voice.
Mr Kennett also touched on the issue of gender.
Mary Wooldridge “is a very intelligent person, forget that she’s a woman, she’s a very intelligent person”, he said.
“Tim Smith’s a young man, I’m sure he’s got a lot of potential talents.”
But Mr Kennett asserted that his support was with Ms Wooldridge.
Mitchell tried a number of times to draw Mr Kennett on whether former Premier Ted Ballieu should give up his seat to Ms Wooldridge.
Mr Kennett wouldn’t give his opinion on that, though he said he had one, but it wasn’t for him to comment on what Mr Ballieu should do.
“The Liberal Party, the organisation has got to fix this up. The Liberal Party needs Mary Wooldridge as a part of their team.”
This quote from Mr Kennett was picked up by ABC News Victoria that night, and was used, with the accompanying video, in the package by reporter Alison Savage.
Again Mr Kennett’s remarks added credibility to the story. Savage’s story included interviews with Liberal ministers, all giving their support to Ms Wooldridge.
What’s interesting in how this was covered on television, is that much of what was reported throughout the day on this and on polling, was compiled into the one TV story.
The Herald Sun’s article “Safe seat’ campaign not enough” was printed on a two page spread, which also included articles about the results of a Herald Sun/Galaxy poll, which like The Age/Neilsen poll, found the Napthine Government in trouble.
A major story from this poll reported by the Herald Sun was the importance Victorians place on a rail link between the city and the airport.
Savage’s story on ABC News Victoria combined information in these articles, as sort of a ‘state politics wrap up’.
It used Ms Wooldridge’s predicament as a ‘lead’ and then finished with information from the Galaxy poll, including the government falling behind, and the want for an airport rail link.
This is obviously because in a half hour news bulletin, it would be difficult to give more time to this sort of story.
Television also has a way of being able to communicate a large amount of information in a relatively short amount of time, as it uses pictures along with sound to get the point across.
In the weeks following Ms Wooldridge’s loss, the story received less attention from TV and radio news. Print and online media – particularly the Herald Sun and The Age continued to follow up the story.
The Age published a number of articles about Ms Wooldridge’s struggle to find a seat and about Tim Smith’s background, including his appointment as Mayor of Stonnington at the age of 26.
Richard Willingham from The Age said it is important for them to follow up on these stories, as often TV and radio don’t.
“It’s of genuine interest to our readers – it’s part of our job.”
Jemimah Clegg 