The Park wrote:
The Q and A team came out with
a defence which I thought was fair enough. Where are you going to get people that are interested in politics that aren't biased or in a party? As long as they don't all come from one angle it is all right. If their question is sensible let it be asked.
Quote:
Angela Samuels told Q&A she was a Coalition voter when she registered. She also ticked the box to confirm she was a party member. When we put together the audience for that night, her political preferences went into the mix. Among the 215 young citizens who got their chance to question the Prime Minister she was one of the 33 per cent who want to vote for his opponent. We also had 39 per cent who would vote for the ALP, 13 per cent who intend to vote Green, another 13 per cent who were unsure or unwilling to nominate a preference.
That's not a scientific sample of 16-25 year old voters (and will-be voters) but it is the sort of crowd that gives Q&A guests a fair mix of supporters and opponents and makes for a lively discussion that represents a range of opinions. There are supporters for both sides - the PM and his ministers will get a round of applause and the Opposition can expect the same.
IMO the problem isn't people from one side or another, the problem is when single-issue groups astro-turf a campaign to get their issue onto the show. Bernard Keane highlights the problem well:
It also suggests Q&A is having continuing difficulties getting the balance right between partisan audience members who can deliver controversy, and representatives of the other 98% of the population. Last night’s dreadful episode, in which the mouth-watering clash between Lindsay Tanner and Barnaby Joyce was ruined by the presence of three other irrelevant and less-than-exciting guests, seemed to have been allowed by the ABC to be used as a soapbox.
There was a group of ex-ADF personnel running a well-organised email campaign to have their pension benefits boosted, and an apparent supporter of Melinda Tankard-Reist’s campaign to censor and regulate everything faintly connected to sex, who served her up with a Dorothy Dixer that allowed her to range over sexualisation of children — including peddling the internet myth that Noah Cyrus is launching a lingerie line for nine-year-olds — and the recent attacks on Government websites.
Which is all fine if Q&A wants to become a lobby for professional barrow-pushers, but it makes for less-than-compelling television.
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