Media freeze

But now, to regional New South Wales, and an unusual admission on Prime7’s nightly news:

KARL LIJNDERS: Tonight, Prime7 Local News wanted to bring you a story about what was apparently a big announcement regarding the relocation of the Regional Investment Corporation to the Central West and the jobs it could bring here. Unfortunately, the local federal member Andrew Gee refused to invite us to the media conference he held.

- Prime7 Local News, 31 October, 2018 

Extraordinary.

Here was a bit of good news for the Central West, with 32 federal government jobs coming to Orange, as the local paper reported.

And you’d have thought local MP Andrew Gee would have been desperate for some positive media.

So why was Prime7 not invited to the party?

LIZ GWYNN: In an email from a senior media adviser Rosie Pritchard they told us that a media alert was sent out yesterday but it didn’t go to Prime7, your news service of choice. What this means, we’re not really sure.

- Prime7 Local News, 31 October, 2018

But Prime had a pretty good idea.

And they were not going to give in to the MP’s pressure:

LIZ GWYNN: … we will always act independently and will always push back on political party pressure to cover a story in a particular way. We do not and we will not curry favour with political parties.

- Prime7 Local News, 31 October, 2018

Strong stuff.

And Prime’s CEO Ian Audsley went even further, saying excluding the station from press conferences was a clear attempt to, quote, “hijack democracy”.

So, who is Gee and what is his beef with the station?

Well, as the National Party member for Calare – which takes in Bathurst, Orange and the NSW central-west – he has one of the safest seats in Australia:

ANDREW GEE: I was born in the country, I was raised in the country, I am of the country.

- House of Representatives, YouTube, 14 September, 2018

Yet he regularly cavils at the media for what he claims is unfair treatment.

Complaining, for example, about this Prime7 story on drought relief last month:

MEL WIGHTMAN: A visit to Blaney for the new Prime Minister, but no new commitment to support drought-affected communities …

A positive step, but not a new promise.

- Prime7 Local News, 8 October, 2018

And it’s not just Prime that Gee has picked on.

Media Watch has spoken to journalists in radio, TV and print newsrooms across the region. And they told us that the ABC, WIN News, the Central Western Daily in Orange and Bathurst’s Western Advocate have all been frozen out by Gee for extended periods in response to coverage that he doesn’t like.

None of them will comment on the record for obvious reasons. But Jock Cheetham, a journalism lecturer from Charles Sturt University in Bathurst, says the public deserve better:

Avoiding accountability undermines trust. Politicians should resist Trumpian temptations to marginalise media and instead freely discuss their principles and positions.

- Jock Cheetham, Email, 9 November, 2018

And Gee’s former leader Barnaby Joyce agrees. Asked about the Prime7 exclusion a week ago, he told the station:

BARNABY JOYCE: I’ve had a pretty wild time at times and I don’t think I’ve ever said to people I’m not going to have you at my press conference.

- Prime7 Local News, 2 November, 2018

So, what does Gee have to say for himself? Well, not much, because media adviser Rosie Pritchard gave us the brush-off too, telling Media Watch:

People want politicians talking about the issues affecting our country and not themselves. Mr Gee therefore won’t be commenting further on the issue.

- Rosie Pritchard, Email, 8 November, 2018

Mr Gee does a lot of not commenting, it would seem.

But Prime7 has told its viewers it won’t be changing its coverage just to please him.