Caught the PM on his regular Monday morning slot on TVNZ’s “Breakfast” programme using an old – but effective – trick.  It’s what’s called “Tell ‘Em What You’re Going To Tell ‘Em, Tell ‘Em What You’ve Told ‘Em, Then Tell ‘Em What You’ve Just Told ‘Em Technique ”.

In a wide-ranging eight minute interview Key managed to imply or foreshadow the following ahead of todays weekly Cabinet meeting;

• refuse to foreshadow whether Cabinet will decide on Maori seats for the Super City but did say that “I’ve got a strong view on things should go now,” followed by moments later another quote which said “We’ve actually laid out our preferred position some months ago.”
• Again danced on the head of a pin (as political scientist Therese Arsenau so accurately described it on  TVNZ’s “Q+A” yesterday) on the issue of the smacking referendum.  Translation; Key won’t be changing the legislation but he will look at it’s interpretation and implementation.
• Gave a strong perspective on the process that would be involved to change the anti-smacking legislation using the fact that there were 33 cases of reported smacking – one that “nearly led to a prosecution.  It was withdrawn.  At exactly the same time there were 83,000 cases of reported domestic violence.”
• The PM then went on to show empathy for the concerns of Kiwi parents.  “Those New Zealanders who lightly smack a child because the kid does something silly are not, in my view, as a general rule, child abusers.”

What can we take out of Key’s utterances this morning?  It was the “Tell ‘Em What You’re Going to Tell ‘Em”. What he has already told us; that National won’t support Maori seats on the Super City and that despite a strong majority in the referendum, the anti-smacking legislation won’t be changed.  What he said on “Breakfast” this morning will be refined but essentially the same messages for his post Cabinet presser this afternoon.  “Tell ‘Em What You’re Telling ‘Em.” By doing so you neutralize the chance of breaking bad news on a slow news day that can then gather speed and overwhelm you. If those slow news days continue it’s a case of “Tell ‘Em What You’ve Just Told ‘Em.”  It’s called Artful Repetition.

This entry was posted on Monday, August 24th, 2009 at 3:00 pm and is filed under Local Government, Politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.