Politics, pandemics and polarisation
TVNZ and Three are rolling out their top political journalists to cover the US presidential election, writes Bevan Hurley, but what they are facing is far more than just the mother of all contests for the White House.
Around Paul Henry’s neighbourhood in his adopted home of Palm Springs, there’s a constant thrum of political banter. In the middle of the staunchly Democratic state of California Palm Springs represents an outpost of Republican support, and his social network of builders, firefighters, engineers and a former intelligence officer, offers Henry a handy sounding board to take the pulse of the ferociously polarised political landscape.
‘‘When you live there, if you’re fascinated by politics like I am, you get the social perspective of politics. You get the vibe of the politics and you get a much broader perspective.’’
While heavy on opinion, the chat around Frank Sinatra’s former hometown can be relatively light on analysis and insight.
‘‘Obamacare’s interesting,’’ says Henry. ‘‘They’ll all bemoan Obamacare, either they’ll say ‘Trump’s destroyed it’, or ‘Trump hasn’t dismantled it enough’. But you ask any of them to explain Obamacare to you, and they know nothing.’’
Now semi-retired, Henry divides his time between his house in the desert city 170km east of Los Angeles, his superyacht Olive, and his homebase in Albany, north of Auckland.
And after escaping the US in August and spending two weeks in quarantine, Henry is hosting Three’s US election special.
Henry doesn’t have much time for either Donald Trump (‘‘a loathsome individual’’) or his Democratic opponent Joe Biden (‘‘entirely unequipped to be president’’), but he does have faith in America’s restorative powers to overcome its political and pandemic-related predicament.
Henry, who’s just written a book about the States, says he’s far more engaged with politics there than in New Zealand, where he once stood as a candidate for Parliament.
‘‘I’ve always loved politics and I’ve taken that love to the States, but now I’m invested in it to a much greater extent than I’ve ever been before. But when you start to absorb the States, you realise the extent to which managing that country is juggling snakes.’’
Three’s national correspondent Patrick Gower is leaving tonight for the US to cover his third presidential election, and he’s been getting the same question: ‘‘Why would you go to America?’’
Gower’s given New Zealand audiences plenty of memorable moments from the US, from snatched conversations with Bernie Sanders, Stephen Colbert and Donald Trump Jnr, to sneaking into Mar-a-Lago with the US press pack and putting a question to Trump at the podium.
This time round he’s wary of Covid, increasing hostility towards media, the prospect of postelection civil unrest and two weeks of quarantine on his return.
But there’s no place Gower would rather be than in the middle of the most consequential news event of the year.
‘‘I’m really pumped for it. Freaking out a little bit. When people hear you’re going, their eyebrows raise. That doesn’t help when you’re a little bit nervous.’’
He and his cameraman will be based in Washington, DC, for two weeks and opportunities for spontaneous interactions with everyday Americans voters will be reduced.
‘‘The days of going off on huge adventures are gone, it will be more a case of playing safe. But it’s still going to be a massive adventure and a privilege. I like to operate on the fly over there. I really want to bring back some understanding of what it’s like there. I’ve always thought that New Zealanders have our own firm view of the States, but it’s always different when you’re there.
‘‘You can read the internet all day long, you could read every website on American politics, you could have every channel streaming into your lounge room and you could have conversations with political experts but you will never, ever get the vibe that you’ll get from being there.’’
Gower’s approach to storytelling won’t change. ‘‘I fall back to that classic formula: how would I blab it out to my mates around a bar table. Once you’re there it changes everything. You hook onto a vibe and you’re away.’’
For anyone with lingering anxiety from the 2016 US presidential election, when polls suggested Hillary Clinton would win comfortably, TVNZ US correspondent Anna Burns-Francis’s advice is to have patience, as there’s unlikely to be a result on election night.
With millions of Americans opting to vote by mail, and a confusing mosaic of individual voting systems run by the 50 individual states, it’s possible there’ll be no clear winner for days, or even weeks. ‘‘I don’t think it’s going to be over quickly. Have a big bowl of snacks and be prepared to watch for seven days in a row.’’
Burns-Francis has only been in the job a few months, but she’s witnessed an already frenetic news cycle whipped into overdrive as the election grew closer and the pandemic raged on.
On Thursday, she travelled to Nashville for the second presidential debate, crossing live to the TVNZ studio just after midnight local time for the 6pm bulletins.
This week she’ll be roadtripping with her cameraman to the crucial midwestern states of Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin that decided the election in Trump’s favour in 2016.
With coronavirus numbers spiking as the weather gets colder, Burns-Francis is taking precautions by constantly washing her hands, social distancing and mask-wearing.
On election night she’ll be outside the White House, where Trump will watch the results come in. Regardless of who reaches the tipping point of 270 electoral college votes, it’s unclear if the president will recognise the result or agree to a peaceful transfer of power.
‘‘From this side of the world, you can tell he’s taking this attitude that ‘it’s somebody else’s fault if I lose and wouldn’t they love me to lose’,’’ she says. ‘‘He’s talking about losing quite a bit.’’
Speaking to Trump supporters has given BurnsFrancis insight into how he has maintained his popularity through an endless series of scandals, impeachment and playing down of a pandemic which has killed more than 200,000 of his countrymen and women.
‘‘I heard this woman say she liked Donald Trump and she was going to vote for him because he spoke his mind, you know, ‘he speaks the truth’. And she had conflated two different ideas, that because he speaks in a very colloquial everyman kind of language that, that means he’s telling the truth. Half of what you have to listen to is the message, and what the message actually means.’’
She’s felt the hostility towards the press firsthand, having been accosted by a Trump supporter and verbally abused by an anti-Trump demonstrator outside Walter Reed Hospital, where the president was treated for coronavirus.
‘‘Everybody is just so divided in this country. And it’s becoming more and more bitter the closer you come to November 3. People either feel like they are going to win or they are going to lose and they don’t want to be the loser, they’re determined to be the winner. The number of undecided voters left is so minimal.
‘‘Everybody seems to be on one side of the war.’’ She sees it everywhere from cable news to people on the street, a chronic exhaustion with the bickering and cultural battle lines between liberals and conservatives. ‘‘There’s no in-depth analysis of policies or of issues, it’s very on the surface and it’s very much that war of words, ‘he said this’, ‘she said this’, and it just goes on and on and on. It’s just a constant barrage all the time.’’
Joining Burns-Francis in the US as part of 1News’ coverage will be her predecessor in the role, Jack Tame. Tame covered some monumental events
‘‘I’ve always loved politics and I’ve taken that love to the States... But when you start to absorb the States, you realise the extent to which managing that country is juggling snakes.’’ Paul Henry
during his five years in the US from Barack Obama’s re-election in 2012 to Trump’s first win, as well as the Sandy Hook school shooting massacre.
Tame also chronicled his time in the States through weekly newspaper columns and hosting his Saturday morning Newstalk ZB radio show from a studio in Tribeca, Manhattan. He developed a close affinity for his adopted home city of New York, his neighbourhood in East Harlem, the characters that he came to befriend and the inexhaustible energy of the place.
But as he prepares to travel to the US, with a suitcase full of N95 masks and hand sanitiser, Tame is genuinely concerned about the state of the country.
‘‘America has for a long time been defined by diversity,’’ says Tame. ‘‘And I mean diversity in every sense, diversity of landscapes, diversity of culture, diversity of economic prosperity.
‘‘Whereas once the diversity was celebrated, the divisions now are so toxic and the politics so polarised, I think it’s a seriously worrying moment in American history.
‘‘It’s just amazing how much the people seem to hate each other. It’s hard to imagine anything repairing it quickly.’’
While Trump’s America First policies may have tarnished its diplomatic reputation, Tame says the US will always remain a place of endless fascination to New Zealanders.
‘‘Love it or hate it, the US is one of – if not the dominant – cultural influence in our lives. So much of our music and movies and pop culture comes out of the US.
‘‘I think travel to America has become way more accessible over the last 20 years, so a lot more New Zealanders have experienced holidays in the States and feel a connection with the place.’’
Tame says the continuing ‘‘celebrification’’ of presidential politics now seems to draw everything into its orbit. ‘‘There’s so much money put into it, there’s so much coverage, and the characters are larger than life.’’
Since 2016, US news media has been through a period of soul-searching about how to cover Trump.
Tame’s ‘‘astonished’’ at how Trump has been able to manipulate the press to his advantage. ‘‘What gets eyeballs? Outrage gets eyeballs, therefore you incentivise outrage and someone like Donald Trump knows how to do outrage. I just think we find it irresistible.’’
But he doesn’t believe neutrality and truthfulness are mutually exclusive.
‘‘I think neutrality is truthful. I think to be truly neutral, you just have to tell the truth.’’
And besides, in many ways Trump has lived up to his word, says Tame.
‘‘I think Trump more than any other president I’ve known has kept his promises. Trump’s done exactly what he said he was going to do. Regardless of what you think of him.’’
Tame will host two episodes of current affairs show Q+A from the States immediately prior to the election and after it. He says there is no way to guess how the next few weeks will play out.
‘‘If there is a contentious result, there is no way that either the Democrats or the Republicans will back down, they are going to fight tooth and nail and who knows what that will look like. I can’t imagine Donald Trump using conciliatory language to appease his supporters.’’