Nearly half a century ago Neville Wran, the gravel voiced powerbroking NSW Labor Premier from 1976-86, perfected the art of orchestrating TV press conferences. If a pesky journalist shoved a microphone in his face and asked a difficult question, Wran would just turn away from the offending mike and camera, using his eyes to invite someone else to ask their question. No sound, no visual, no story. Pretty Nifty indeed.

It was a forerunner to Adam Bandt’s classic put down of the attempted ambush by a smug journalist, asking a surprise election campaign media conference question about some statistic or other: “Google it, mate!”

But in these social mediated days there are so many tricky new traps for the unwary. Especially the roaming ‘randoms with phones,’ the hanging mics left on after the staged speeches have finished, and the plague of parasitic ‘influencers,’ trawling the world to share candid camera surprise stories that they hope will attract hordes of new viewers. Click baiters angling for new angles.

Everyone’s a target. And in some ways the over orchestrated political ‘pressers’ deserve to be gatecrashed. Because there’s so much set piece positioning, it’s impossible to believe anyone........

© Pearls and Irritations