Politics in the social media age
If it had been a one-off departure from standard operating procedure, it might have seemed the planet had somehow spiralled into an alternate universe. It wasn’t, of course. There he was, the current ‘‘leader of the free world’’, baselessly insulting the intelligence of one of sport’s superstars, LeBron James, and a television anchor, as if it was all in a day’s work.
Which it was, effectively, for United States President Donald Trump, who tweeted, after CNN rebroadcast an interview between Don Lemon and ‘‘King James’’: ‘‘Lebron [sic] James was just interviewed by the dumbest man on television, Don Lemon. He made Lebron look smart, which isn’t easy to do.’’
Standard reaction from Trump – unpresidential, but certainly not unusual.
And the fact that by Tuesday it had been liked more than 177,000 times, and retweeted nearly 50,000 times, is probably as good a demonstration as any that social media has irrevocably changed politics.
Not that Trump’s petulant micro-missive went unanswered. The defence of James, who personally shrugged it off, was robust. But it’s clear that, in 2018, the US president can fire off an unfounded, arguably defamatory statement and draw broad support. It’s become normalised. Welcome to the ‘‘post-truth’’ world.
On Monday, National MP and former justice minister Judith Collins was unapologetic after tweeting a link from a largely debunked website, YourNewsWire.Com, to a story making false claims about France’s age of consent laws, and calling on Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern to ‘‘denounce this legislation of child sexual abuse’’.
In response to questions about why she’d tweeted a ‘‘fake news’’ link, Collins later told Stuff she didn’t necessarily agree with every article she tweeted, but was concerned France needed to strengthen its laws around the age of consent, and she hoped Ardern would raise it with French President Emmanuel Macron. As an explanation it conjures up variations polite and otherwise of the phrase ‘‘a likely story’’. She later asserted that much of the body of the story was correct.
On Tuesday, her party leader, Simon Bridges, said Collins – who took a short-lived Twitter break in 2014 – had simply made a mistake, and he would not be disciplining her. Time will tell if the episode proves precedent-setting in terms of New Zealand politicians getting away with online gaffes, but it’s certainly a cautionary tale about the need to check the legitimacy of sources. Isn’t that where communications staff come in?
Naturally, our politicians’ use of social media is widespread, across the spectrum. Not using the platform to engage would-be voters would be anachronistic.
Ardern’s Facebook Live appearance, preempting her return to Parliament after the birth of daughter Neve, came hours after Bridges’ maiden National Party conference speech as leader. The timing may well have been seen as opportunistic, especially by her political opponents, but it also pointed to a politician up to speed with the most direct ways to address her support base.
And she has an example in her political hero, Helen Clark, whose down-to-earth interactions with ordinary New Zealanders on Twitter have endeared her to a growing number of Kiwis.
‘‘It’s clear that, in 2018, the US president can fire off an unfounded, arguably defamatory statement and draw broad support. It’s become normalised. Welcome to the ‘post-truth’ world.’’