Other than the traditional Government departments the biggest and generally the most lucrative newsroom in the country is housed at Parliament.

But they are most certainly not there to generate the news, unless it is good. They are there to prevent it from going to air or appearing in print, or if it does to try and ensure it has a good spin on it.

In the bad old days journalists who crossed to the dark side became public servants, working for the Tourist and Publicity Department. If there was a change of Government, a press secretary could expect to cross the party line and stay with a Cabinet minister from the other side.

In those days they used to write press releases without putting a spin on it. If they felt a journalist had got the wrong end of the stick, they wouldn't wave it, they would politely point out what a minister was meaning.

All that changed with Roger the Dodger Douglas who employed partisan reporters whose contracts lasted as long as a minister's. In the Lange Government job security obviously was not assured, particularly in the last three years where there was a revolving door policy with ministers coming and going with monotonous regularity.

The contrast today is vast. For a start the spin doctors are paid infinitely more than they used to be and generally well above what those in the general media can earn.

And with those inflated salaries comes an inflated sense of self righteousness. Take the gaff by the Tory's industrial relations spokeswoman yesterday. The lowly ranked Kate Wilkinson told a breakfast gathering in a pub across the road from Parliament that a Tory Government wouldn't require employers to cough up for KiwiSaver.

Even before the story was run and the Tory's top spinner was on the blower categorically and cantankerously telling us we had got it wrong, no question about it. But hang on, then so did everyone else in the room, he was told.

State Homie John Key later came out and announced his spokeswoman had made the mistake!

A retraction from the spin doctor? Fat chance!

Barry Soper

Political Editor

Newstalk ZB