As we begin the final dance after months of pseudo-campaigning, one of the biggest questions both political leaders will be posing in this election is, 'Whom do you trust?' It's an important question in more ways than one.
Today's editorial from the Daily Telegraph makes it clear that they believe only one party is worth your trust. While it's common for newspapers to make a stand for one party or the other come election time, it's rare that it happens on the first day of the campaign, even if the Telegraph's editorial is hardly surprising for a newspaper that had Labor in its crosshairs well before Kevin Rudd took office.
One of the things we expect from our media is that they will ask the hard questions on an election trail. Additionally, trustworthiness in reporting is one of the few advantages that our mainstream media outlets can claim over the blogosphere.
While the Telegraph's editors might claim they will still place the Coalition's policies under the same level of scrutiny as Labor's, by taking such a strong editorial stand they have at the very least undermined this claim. There are also questions being raised as to how much all of the News Limited publications are being influenced by Murdoch's fear of the NBN's impact on his businesses — a commercial interest that few Australians will share.
While Eureka Street could never claim to be without bias in its coverage of issues, its agenda is driven by a concern for social justice and the impact of policies on the poorest and most vulnerable. This means it must hold all parties up to scrutiny. There are serious questions that need to be asked of both major parties, and their leaders, over the next few weeks. And with many disaffected Labor supporters considering voting for the Greens in this election, there are many hard questions that need to be asked of them, too.
If the mainstream media can no longer be trusted to ask the serious questions of both parties, perhaps it's time for the game to move elsewhere. Understanding this, Rudd has brought in social media strategists who worked on the Obama campaign in the United States to advise Labor. Social media has become a powerful tool for politicians, offering unmediated access to constituents and bypassing newspapers and television bulletins entirely.
As a venue for political discussion Twitter is far from perfect. We're yet to see it used