1/ Ok. My take on the media presser thing;
Yes, some NZers are overly protective of the PM. They don't need to be. She demonstrated that when she totally out played Walls yesterday.
Yes - some NZers find the presser part of the briefings anxiety producing in themselves. They

2/ should probably turn off.
But what is also happening is NZers *are* seeing an aspect of the political/media process they don't"t usually see
And - yes - they don't much like it. Not because they don't understand or because they don't like "their" PM being questioned.

3/ They don't like it because they are seeing the way journalists work to frame the narrative about issues that directly impact them during a crisis, and they don't like it. When journalists come up with increasingly complex ramifications of levels restrictions, looking for

4/ a story in which they can write "OMG, you won't be able to walk your dog, take a swim, kiss your boyfriend!", when they could be asking - "What is the best way for people to remember to act within these restrictions?", viewers see what they're doing. When journalists demand

4/ answers about who is at fault so that they can write "PM blames hard working health workers for botch up!", instead of asking "This is clearly a mistake. How has it impacted on our response? Is it serious?", viewers can servwhatbthey're doing. When journalists demand the PM

5/ apologise for a mistake made by the MoH comms team so that they can write "PM forced to apologise for testing disaster!", instead of asking "It seems to have taken a while to fix. How will you ensure this won"t happen again?", viewers can see what they're doing.
They can now

6/ see how those stories happen. How events get twisted to create "newsworthy" narratives. And they can see political journalists aren't working to clarify, unravel, make sense of issues for the viewer. They can see how journalists are looming for s story, a hit, a scalp. And

7/ they don't like it.

8 / last bit: Today Anna Leask posted something demanding the PM take responsibility, using the old circus/monkeys analogy. She wasn't calling health workers 'monkeys'. But it does highlight the issue. "Your circus, PM. Your monkeys" Actually it's *our* circus. Health

9/ workers are working for *us*. Political reporters, by necessity, remove themselves from the fray. Stand apart. Fair enough. Seems to me that model isn't especially helpful in this situation.