What can we say about how ‘the media age’ shapes politics? In turn, how does politics shape the media world?

A metaphor from biology seems appropriate. In 1953, just as the nascent television industry in Australia was gearing up for its launch, two scientists, James D. Watson and Francis Crick, offered the world the image of the ‘double helix’ to describe how DNA was constructed. Watson was supposedly on an LSD trip when he saw the vision.

In many respects, the ‘double helix’ fits the media/government relationship, where both strands twist together to form its DNA. Like the image of the double helix, both spirals engage in a dance around each other, centred on the same axis. Neither strand manages to fully dominate the other.

One strand contains ‘money’ elements of the relationship, the other the ‘black box’ of content. The ‘money’ thread holds the ‘legislative’ codes that have unlocked the enormous market power of the technological revolution that is modern media. Government paced the introduction of key technologies (where it could) and bestowed favours on media proprietors through regulating the playing field. It is the politicians who enact the laws. So, appearances give the impression that the government is the dominant force in shaping the structural thread but the reality is somewhat different. No government idly transgresses on the commercial interests of the handful of owners. Indeed, a media proprietor expects his calls to the Prime Minister to be returned. As former NSW Premier Bob Carr remarked, the only thing that separates Jamie Packer from the other dozen billionaires in Australia is that he has media interests.^[12]

The ‘black box’ thread of the DNA contains the ‘editorial’ codes of data and information that make up the daily news agenda. It’s the journalists who write the headlines, present the news, interview the politicians and pen much of the commentary. So, appearances give the impression that this role makes journalists the dominating force in the content thread. Again, the reality is somewhat different. Journalists and politicians live in a tightly woven relationship of co-dependence. Both sides are busy ‘framing’ the news to put their own interpretation on events. Neither side wants to yield to the other’s version. A prime minister expects his or her calls to an editor to be returned. The editor will call, but if they are worth their salt, will not necessarily buckle.

The helix shape, of course, corresponds to a ‘screw’ and perhaps that is the more fitting image, as both sides of the relationship seek to screw down the other, fastening, keeping in check, protecting their source of power as they play the great game of politics and media.