Politicians' Responses During a Major Scandal: Assessing the Impact on Media Coverage

Abstract

When politicians are confronted with a scandal it is not conclusively known why some successfully manage and overcome the controversy and others do not. This thesis suggests that there may be a relationship between the types of responses offered by politicians facing negative allegations and media coverage of the scandal. Four case studies were employed to test if such a relationship may exist - the Hon. Rodney Hide, Hon. Hone Harawira, Hon. Shane Jones, and Hon. David Garrett. Frameworks from the field of public relations were used to categorise the responses offered by each politician and a content analysis of print news media undertaken to obtain data on the amount, length and tone of media coverage for each politician during their scandal. During 2009-2010 in New Zealand a number of well known politicians faced allegations of improper behaviour ranging from misuse of parliamentary expenses to passport fraud to racist language. At the time political accountability was heightened as a result of the aftershocks of the recent parliamentary expenses scandal in the United Kingdom reverberating around other Commonwealth countries. While acknowledging the differences between each type of scandal and the variables in each case, this thesis suggests that certain responses may affect media coverage of a politician facing a scandal.