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The Emperor has no clothes

John Laws exposed

'Emperors of Air' is the sobriquet given to talkback hosts by Phillip Adams. If John Laws is an emperor then Richard Ackland is the little boy who said, 'But he's got no clothes on'.

The deal between Laws and the Australian Bankers Association, exposed on ABC Media Watch, attracted such outrage because it went further than payment for advertising: the banks were approached by Laws' agent offering to drop criticism and substitute favourable comments on the banks by John Laws for a very large sum of money. This could be called extortion.

To put it more colourfully:

When your enemy becomes your advocate, when there's a conversion experience such as Paul's on the road to Damascus, the crowd will be deeply impressed. To describe this manoeuvre as hypocrisy would be inadequate. Even corruption doesn't cover it.

Having brought this off with the mining industry the host can move into other areas. He can attack industry after industry, profession after profession, and when they're on the ropes, he makes the approach. And the poor mug readers won't know a damn thing about it.

This brings us to the subject of whores. The whoring profession has been around for millenniums. John Laws says, 'I am not a whore.' That will be very good news to the whores of Australia.

Phillip Adams, W/E Australian 17/7/99

A question of ethics

Laws was incredulous at the criticism. He told journalists:

'I find it quite extraordinary that you people are so amazed that an individual like me should use a little entrepreneurial skill and go out and make some money. ... If I have been given an ability that I can market successfully, then I have every intention of doing it ... I'm an entertainer, there isn't a hook for ethics'.

Although Laws seems to have struck out in setting up the banks to pay for altering his opinion, it is agreed that the practice of buying opinion and endorsement by talkback hosts - without acknowledgement - is legion. Everybody does it, everybody knows about it, and the Australian Broadcasting Authority has done nothing about it.

Since 1992 the commercial broadcasters have been self-regulating. The guidelines in their code of conduct on advertising and endorsement are minimal and may well provide the cracks through which Laws will fall in the several inquiries about to be held. Self-regulation could and should be under scrutiny. Rewriting the rule book could be another lasting benefit of this scandal.

It was Media Watch which exposed to the public the practice of buying opinions. Perhaps only the ABC, uncompromised by commercial sponsorship, can do this. And questions of ethics arise in other areas, where the drive for profitability pushes aside all other values. The consequences could be far-reaching in many areas of our society.

Shock Jocks and the Pollies

Another dimension to the John Laws scandal is the impact of talkback radio on the democratic process. The controversy has concentrated on the abuse of power by the talkback hosts. But the reality is that their power has been increased - even legitimised - by politicians seizing upon talkback as an easy and highly effective means of communication. Some political leaders are using talkback to by-pass the scrutiny of skilled journalists in the press gallery and the ABC. Their preferred way of getting across their ideas to the public is through broadcasters who are not journalists but 'entertainers'- a distinction which must be lost on their audiences.

Fred Brenchley writes in The Bulletin:

'Howard has made radio a cornerstone of his media strategy: the first prime minister to have agreements to appear regularly on several radio talk shows across the nation, often with listener call-ins. Howard gets the triple media whammy from radio: usually there is a TV camera trailing him into the studio to capture any announcements for the nightly news shows. And with transcripts of his radio appearances distributed in Canberra's parliamentary press gallery, newspapers seize on any 'news' the following day.'

'Howard , of course, is not the first prime minister to focus on radio. Paul Keating had irregular appearances with John laws on Sydney's 2UE. "Who needs the press gallery when I've got John Laws," goes the gallery's memory of dropping his best lines to the Golden Tonsils, as Laws is known.'

'Steve Allen, managing director of AIS Media, believes Howard is riding the current wave that regards radio as the supreme communications for politicians. Not only do they feel in touch with real people via talk-back, but they do not suffer the frustration of seeing their words edited, as on TV and in the press. While half an hour of advertising on, say, 3AW would be worth $24,000 (if one could buy it as a block), Allen says he sees Howard's constant, live, half-hour slots as 'incalculable'.

'The ABC is losing out through two factors: its old-style format that requires tight, aggressive five-minute interviews rather than commercial's more leisurely half-hour format: and the 'political office' style of commercial presenters, such as Alan Jones, who chase answers from politicians for listeners. Politicians, on the other hand, add credibility and weight to the talk-back programs. Fred Brenchley, The Bulletin, 11/5/99: After the [federal] election, the Liberal powerbroker Michael Kroger acknowledged Jones'power in delivering key marginal seats in NSW.

Peter Charlton, Courier Mail, 17/7/99