Stop hogging call-in shows
Dear politicians: Please stop manipulating the phone lines by filling them with your supporters on call-in radio shows. We all know that it happens.
For instance, you’ll find evidence in Steve Bartlett’s 2013 article in The Telegram called “Message managers.” The subtitle does a nice job of summing it up: “Leaked exchanges prove government pads web polls, phone-in shows.” Memorial University professors have also commented on the practice and analyzed related tactics.
Let me share what I’ve experienced as a call-in show host on the CBC. Say we’re in the middle of a provincial election campaign. The show invites each leader of each party to come on, separately, on different dates, to answer questions from across the province. We want to give our audience an opportunity to get to know the leaders and become familiar with their policies. In fact, we feel it’s our obligation as a public broadcaster.
Invariably, we do indeed get calls from lots of places across Newfoundland and Labrador. However, many of those people appear to be reading scripts, and those scripts have a distinct pattern. They can be in full rah-rah support of the politician who happens to be on the air, or they can criticize the leader of another party. I’ve heard the same script on the same phone-in from two different callers.
Other times, it’s slightly more nuanced. For instance, the caller in support of the onair politician will say, “I’ve got a little bone to pick with you about such and such but overall I think you’re doing a great job.” The thing is, I’ve heard several callers in one particular show use this same approach.
I’ll admit to being fond of the people who place those calls: the “stackers,” as one former open-line radio host calls them. I am intrigued by their sense of party loyalty. Occasionally they speak with passion. Occasionally they sound miserable, as if they just want to get the call over fast.
But here’s the thing: whether the individual call comes across on air as flat or ardent, the manipulation of phone lines sounds ridiculous. Stilted and forced. I’ll see instant public backlash on social media; listeners understand exactly what’s going on.
I’ve done many interviews over the years about low voter turnout; about the need for political parties to drum up younger, more diverse candidates; about the need to convince bright minds of any age that it’s really not such a bad thing being a politician; or about the importance of exercising the franchise to vote.
In what way do phone lines that are very obviously manipulated by the parties give anyone the sense that our political system is open and fair and sexy? This is such a serious issue that my bosses have considered not doing any more phone-ins with politicians. They feel that the manipulation comes extremely close to making those shows a waste of listeners’ time.
So how to fix the problem? On our end, we could indeed stop inviting politicians to go on air as call-in show guests. That would be sad and odd. On your end, there must be a way, a simple way, to stop the timeold ritual of political parties in Newfoundland and Labrador stacking the phone lines. Notifications to that effect going out on the mobile phones of the party faithful? I’m kidding.
Could it be as uncomplicated as a letter of agreement to stop the practice, a letter that is signed by all party leaders (and subsequent leaders) and distributed to members and supporters? I’m guessing the parties themselves would be efficient at policing any perceived breaches. To take a wider view, would a House of Assembly media liaison committee be helpful? Members could include MHAS from all parties and media representatives from all local outlets. The committee would allow for discussion about resolving issues such as this one. If it proved helpful for those journalists who cover the legislature, the existing Press Gallery Association could be folded into a media liaison committee.
But really, I can’t tell the parties what to do. And let’s be realistic — it seems an extreme, overly grand notion, doesn’t it, a call for a formal process to end the manipulation of lines on call-in shows? I can’t quite see it myself. No laws are being broken and, of course, parties attempt to grab perceived advantages wherever possible. Besides, there are lots of pressing issues that need your attention and ours.
Much as I’d like to, I can’t picture a day when political operatives will stop trying to mess with the phone lines. It’s like the problem of litter here in Newfoundland and Labrador: icky, unnecessary and perpetual. A problem that could be readily solved in that we all know the solution lies in not tossing crud onto the ground, and yet not at all easily dealt with in terms of changing habits and attitudes. However, individual responsibility still comes into play, doesn’t it? Each one of you has probably gone out of your way to pick up unsightly trash, for the betterment of this place. A sincere thank you for doing the right thing.
About the Author
Ramona Dearing (CBC NL) studied at York University. She’s worked for CBC in St. John’s, Vancouver and Happy Valley-goose Bay in a wide variety of roles, including as a news reporter and the host of “Crosstalk,” a phone-in show on CBC Radio. She’s the author of the short-story collection “So Beautiful” (Porcupine’s Quill, 2004).