The fine line between covering and platforming Pauline Hanson
Cheek's recap on the week that was.
Hello, Hannah here with your intro this morning!
Kalila and I have had a WEEK. As I’m sure many of you are feeling. We considered travelling to Canberra to see Pauline Hanson’s National Press Club Address in person (and potentially try and ask a question), reflecting on what we know now - it’s hard to know if that would have been better or worse.
We watched the speech and questions in almost complete silence, occasionally bluntly stating “I’m activated” or other words that wouldn’t be appropriate for this newsletter (I did yell at the screen at some journos and I did say things I’m not proud of). This week, saying anything feels like a negative contributor that only fuels the machine. I feel bound in an impossible trap. I’m sure many readers feel caught in the same binding.
What I can say is: time is on our side. There is a long road ahead, and while I don’t doubt that Hanson will continue to rise in the polls - the political landscape will change a lot in the coming two years. Now isn’t the moment for withdrawal, it’s an opportunity for the left to learn from the mistakes of the United States and coordinate in ways that we have historically been pretty average at. It’s also time to get off our phones and out in the real world.
Kalila will unpack the NPC Address and the media’s response in today’s Decoding the Discourse.
