#laming

Lisa Wilkinson apologises to former MP Andrew Laming

Lisa Wilkinson has issued an apology to former MP Andrew Laming after accusing him of inappropriate behaviour. Lisa Wilkinson has apologised to former Queensland MP Andrew Laming after accusing him of taking an inappropriate photo of a woman. Wilkinson tweeted on Sunday that she apologies to Dr Laming for any “hurt and offence caused to him.” “In March 2021 I published a tweet about Andrew…

As America went to the polls to vote for their new President, the rest of the world collective held their breath. Who would be the next ‘Leader of the free world’? And the winner is…social media. For better or worse, more than ever before social media became a vital part of the political process. During the 2008 election, 74% of Americans internet users consulted an online source in some form to obtain their political information (young, 2010 p205). This year the portion of Americans who access their political content on a mobile device rose from 54% in 2013 to 72% (Pew, 2016). We saw Donald Trump embrace Twitter’s ability to instantly push his message to his 16 million followers and also respond in an attempt to turn around any negative media, regardless of the time; news outlets around the world reporting and analysing the President Elect’s twitter activity with the same importance as his policies, and with Facebook accused of influencing the election.

Back home we have seen politicians take to social media with mixed results. Some politicians have been savvy with their online presence, attempting to connect with their younger voters, with both PM, Malcolm Turnbull and former PM, Kevin Rudd, striving to achieve the connection; while others have missed the boat, forgetting the need to engage followers and stuck with the old centralised world, driving voters to the party website by tweeting out press releases (Jericho, 2012 p276). 

Sometimes, the need for connection can go too far.  In January 2013, amidst the Logan race riots, Queensland MP for Bowman, Andrew Laming, tweeted "Mobs tearing up Logan. Did any of them do a day’s work today, or was it business as usual and welfare on tap?“, sparking backlash from the local community and beyond.

Mr Laming was forced to send out a clarifying tweet in the wake of the backlash. 

Mr Laming again came under scrutiny in 2014 when he attended a constituent’s Australia Day Party and was filmed skolling a beer while doing a handstand. While this particular incident was harmless and he is not the only politician to be filmed skolling a beer, it does pose the question of social media and its place in politics. Should it be used to humanise politicians, making them more relatable and connect them with their constituents or simply as a tool for the party message? I think it needs to be both and just like we need to be careful with our online presence for future employment so too do politicians. 

(youtube, 2014)

Jericho, G 2012, ‘How many votes are there on Twitter?’, in The Rise of the Fifth Estate, Scribe, Victoria, Australia.

http://www.journalism.org/2016/07/07/pathways-to-news/ viewed 4 December 2016

Laming Video, youtube, viewed 4 December 2016

Laming, Twitter, Viewed 4 December 2016

The Phormio of Terence / edited by W. Cecil Laming (1902).