Pauline Hanson blames ‘fake news’ media for her bad press. But serious leaders have to own their actions

One Nation leader Pauline Hanson this week claimed there was ‘a concerted effort by some in the media to constantly take my comments out of context’. Photograph: Mick Tsikas/AAP View image in fullscreen One Nation leader Pauline Hanson this week claimed there was ‘a concerted effort by some in the media to constantly take my comments out of context’. Photograph: Mick Tsikas/AAP Analysis Pauline Hanson blames ‘fake news’ media for her bad press. But serious leaders have to own their actions Josh Butler In a fortnight of rolling blunders, the One Nation leader digs deep into the Trump playbook of blame-shifting Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast There’s apparently only one thing to blame for Pauline Hanson’s string of bad headlines in recent weeks, from her decision to pal around with the far-right convicted criminal Tommy Robinson to her description of domestic violence on Wednesday as a “two-way street”. According to the One Nation leader, it’s of course not Hanson herself who is to blame. No – it is the media’s fault. On Thursday she posted audio of the domestic violence exchange and claimed “there is a concerted effort by some in the media to constantly take my comments out of context”. The One Nation leader criticised “journalistic integrity” and drew links to job cuts at the Nine newspapers . “I’m growing less tolerant of many journalists within the MSM [mainstream media] and so too are the public,” she wrote. Not content with aping Donald Trump’s policies and slogan , this week shows Hanson and One Nation are now leaning further than ever into his fallback method of blaming journalists when the consequences of their own remarks or actions spawn an entirely predictable controversy. Pauline Hanson shares Seven pitch for Spotlight special that says program would highlight ‘uncontrolled immigration’ Read more This is hardly new; Hanson herself has “banned” Guardian Australia, along with our fellow travellers at the ABC and others, from her public appearances. Media alerts, press releases and even returned phone calls used to come our way, but don’t any more. In a trend evident since Hanson first burst on to the national political scene in 1996, One Nation has blamed the media for reporting on its slip-ups, instead of turning that gaze inward. It works for Hanson politically to pick fights with the “mainstream media”, positioning her as an anti-establishment outsider fighting against the system. But Hanson, on current figures, could be the official opposition leader after the next election; that, undeniably, demands the same level of scrutiny that media give to the leaders of Labor or Liberal. This predictable cycle, of controversy followed by blame-shifting, has come into sharp focus in the last fortnight amid the rolling blunders emanating from Hanson’s European holiday. Hanson raising the end of the White Australia policy when Robinson asked “how have you ended up with Pakistanis, Somalis, all of these African problem