Rudd - the media master

Rudd is a media master
It was unavoidable.

No matter the TV station; no matter the radio station; no matter the news website – it was all about Kevin Rudd.

You see, Rudd managed to time his resignation absolutely beautifully. By giving his press conference at around 4:30pm Sydney time, Rudd made sure of a couple of things:

A) It meant every evening news bulletin would cover the story

B) No journalist had any time for analysis so the only vision TV, radio and online would carry was his speech unedited

C) It gave the Gillard team no time to respond until after all the news bulletins

Essentially, Rudd managed the media cycle absolutely magnificently. From a PR perspective it was a masterclass.

The question is – is this smart? Labor ministers are now falling over themselves to attack Rudd. In fact, they’re not just attacking him; they are being absolutely scathing.

Wayne Swan, Tony Burke and Craig Emerson (just to name a few) have absolutely eviscerated Rudd’s reputation on national television. The only problem is, they’ve missed the heartland.

All the 6pm news bulletins, in other words; the news bulletins watched by everyday Australians (the Labor battlers, if you will) don’t watch ABC News 24, Sky News, Lateline etc. Yet all these Labor ministers have been appearing on these exact channels, so their message isn’t getting out.

Rudd has proved again that he understands the media cycle fantastically. Whether this helps him return to power remains to be seen. But what you can be sure of is this:

Rudd is a master of the media system. For better or for worse is irrelevant – that is the fact of the matter.

One final thought, courtesy of Australian Financial Review journalist, Patrick Durkin, who posted on Twitter:

Amazing how pollies won't go on record for months then bang: it goes nuclear & happy to tear each other to shreds in public

Co-sign.

And that basically tells you everything you need to know about Australian politics.

I will now light myself on fire.

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