@blatham,
Well, yes.
I kinda get it in an election, and it doesn't annoy me that much because I seldom watch election propaganda here, and never watch US stuff....
It REALLY pisses me off in interviews with pollies, though.
Again, I sort of get it in media encounters that are just going to end up as a sound bite....if they say whatever message they want to get across and only that, chances are the soundbite WILL contain the message.
But, in longer interviews that will be aired pretty much as is, it's excruciating, and the sign of a stupid or bad with media politician, in my view.
Our previous state Health Minister was a terrible example. She faced a previous Premier as her opposition counterpart, who was smart and out to get her, so her job was hard...but she repeatedly did interviews where she really had the chance to say something, but with obvious instructions from her media people to stick to just one message. She is actually quite a smart woman, though, in my view, a terrible minister, but she sounded utterly cretinous and weak, weak, weak.
But...I find the "stick to the same message" stuff really annoying and frustrating, even when I "get" it.