Why is the media so soft on Seymour?

From ram raiding parliament to recommending sexual assault victims talk to an employment lawyer, why aren't our major media outlets tougher on David Seymour?

---

Behind the Panels

On Monday David Seymour attempted to ram-raid Parliament in an 80-year-old Land Rover.

This childish publicity stunt got him in “hot water” and was covered by most, if not all, of our major media platforms. Security promptly stopped him, and David gave a rambling speech about “the critical precepts of a free society” sounding like the worst guy to be cornered by at a Wellington flat party.

He claimed no one told him he couldn’t do the stunt, despite organisers telling him more than once not to do it.

But all of this is a distraction, one of many softball distractions since two major scandals have come to light about Seymour and his party. The major being former ACT Party president Tim Jago being found guilty of eight charges of indecent assault, and Seymour referring the victim to an employment lawyer instead of the police and the ACT party’s push for ongoing name suppression.

The second revelation came last week, which revealed that Seymour wrote a letter sharing “concerns” about police treatment of Philip Polkinghorne being questioned over his wife’s death.

Let’s get straight to the obvious point that everyone is making: If this were an MP from the left, particularly if they were a minority, there would be calls for them to lose their job, and there would be harsh media scrutiny, shining a bright, harsh light on them for weeks.

But Seymour seems exempt from this.

The Tim Jargo revelation should have cost Seymour his job, and we should have seen many more stories on the situation, and many more questions asked by journalists than we did. Golriz Ghahraman in comparison got a much bigger hounding and public flailing from the media than Seymour has for arguably much more horrendous behavior.

And then there was Waitangi Day, a day in which the bare minimum our media could do was tell stories about the celebrations and cause for concern from Māori. Yet midday on Stuff, this is what the front page and breaking news banner contained:

It’s borderline dark comedy at this point. Seymour whose treaty principals bill has fired up Māori across the country has taken the spotlight off those people who are using this day to express their anger and frustrations so that we can instead focus on his engagement?! It’s infuriating.

We have to acknowledge that the way the media presents Seymour to the public is the way they perceive him—soft fluff stories on his engagement instead of sharing the voices and concerns about his bill sewing division is a glaring example of this. So is running more stories on him driving a jeep than his clear attempts to try and brush his former party president’s sexual assaults under the rug.

Maybe we the general public are to blame? Maybe soft stories about Seymour get more clicks and generate more revenue, but what comes first the soft stories or the clicks?

I’m sure there is some irony in my writing and drawing this very piece but I don’t have the audience Stuff and NZ Herald have, and I’m willing to call him out on his shit.

And when small or independent journalists grow a spine and ask Seymour tough and relevant questions, major media organisations suddenly take the high ground on what a “real journalist” is.

There are many conspiracies as to why our major media outlets seem to be soft on some issues and MPs and then viciously go after/spotlight others. But we need genuine, hard-hitting journalism now more than ever, rather than our outlets becoming magazine-format sites with real estate ladder stories and celebrity gossip. Otherwise, the likes of Seymour will keep getting away with, and keep escalating, their behavior.

Danz.

---

My new book ‘Slices of Heaven: Uniquely Kiwi Comics about Aotearoa’ is out now! It’s a print collection of warm and witty comics about the DNA of Aotearoa, celebrating our quirks, institutions, identity, and shared experiences.

You can order a copy below, and check out a preview of what’s inside here and here. Thanks again for all your support!