Massaging the second( and third) coming- why the ABC missed out.

Now that our PM has headed off the David and the ABC effort to hold an ABCdebate after the LNP launch, we can better appreciate the way that massaging the media gave Morrison the final say on the time and location of the second and third comings.

It all comes down to the hunt for aged eyeballs and winning the battle over who is holding the line on health cards, homeownership and how to secure our borders against the rising Chinese dragon.

There are very good reasons for his decision to turn down a traditional Press Club debate on the ABC in favour of the media monoliths that manage the results of their polls that are to prove that we face a Teal threat to democratic traditions and risks of a humbug parliament.

SKY had its chance and Albanese exploded the Murdoch myth that Morrison was on the pathway to his next miracle when their undecided Queenslanders supported both the bookies and their own polls by confirming a 53 to 47 TPP for Labor with a quarter of the audience refusing to give an opinion until they get a better future from both sides. It reached around 400,000 viewers justifying its claim to be the election channel.

The PM has been quite clear - he will only debate on media controlled channels, other than the national broadcaster, because commercial stations reach an older, whiter, less educated and more traditional audience that his secret polls show don't like him much but don't like change.

Channel Nine will get the first opportunity, employing a panel of three journalists rather than risk another pre-pre poll audience test of its consistently lower polling support for a change in government. Anthony Albanese and Scott Morrison will go head to head at 8:30 pm Sunday, May 8th.

Channel Seven is the other commercial channel that has the approval of the PM's media advisors, with the last chance to challenge the polls that still suggest that there are better than even chances of a majority Labor victory in about seven of the key marginals and a threat from the "fake" independents. It will air on May 1lth with ten days to go.

So what's on the media massager's mind here? FIRST, Let's look for the significant gender gaps between men's and women's interest in news coverage:-

READ ANY NEWSPAPER LAST WEEK

- ALP FEMALE (32%) ALP MALE (34%) - ALL OTHERS FEMALES- (29%)

- LNP FEMALE (39%) LNP MALE (44%) - ALL OTHERS MALES - (32%)

WATCHED TV NEWS LAST WEEK

- ALP FEMALE (34%) ALP MALE (32%) -ALL OTHERS FEMALES-(29%)

- LNP FEMALE (39%) LNP MALE (44%) - ALL OTHERS MALES- (18%)

WATCHED TV CURRENT AFFAIRS PROGRAMS

- ALP FEMALE (29%) ALP MALE (32%) -ALL OTHERS FEMALES-(23%)

- LNP FEMALE (33%) LNP MALE (42%) - ALL OTHERS MALES- (18%)

NOW, let's look for the significant gender gaps between men's and women's audiences reach for the alternative TV hosts to see why the debates went to Seven and Nine:-

ABC FEMALE (4,673.000) MALE (4,621.000)

CHANNEL 7 FEMALE (4,682,000) MALE (5,319,000)

CHANNEL 9 FEMALE (4,977,000) MALE (4,379,000)

CHANNEL 10 FEMALE (3,893,000) MALE (3,113,000)

SBS FEMALE(3,409,000) MALE (3,339,000)

QANTAS has just announced that we will soon be able to go to Britain in 19 hours and in 19 days we will all be able to hope that we don't have to stay up all night waiting for the last postal votes from Broom and Bunbury to explore the extent that the other big gaps have been closed - between older and younger Australians and between our Capital Cities, Suburbia and rural and remote communities.