The Simon Bridges drama comes along at an unfortunate time for all. Obviously for Bridges, who needs it like a hole in the head.

But even more for the media who might have forgotten that they are currently immersed in a campaign to remind us just how valuable they are, and how important the service they provide is. Their pitch involves the word "reliable." The inference is around professionalism and independence.

And yet they have driven a story of a coup that doesn’t exist, started with a rumour from a blogger who said it was a rumour, and fuelled by faceless people on a social media platform who have been given a level of credibility any journalist who takes themselves even remotely seriously should be well and truly ashamed of.

Once again, if i need to, I am not the world's biggest Bridges fan, so this, on my part, is no partisan style defence.

Steven Joyce should have had the job. I said it then, and I say it now. And not only do I say it now, I am even more convinced that matters would be entirely different if that had come to pass. Even Mark Mitchell and Judith Collins would have turned things out differently. So the argument is less about the individual, more about the actions of those who claim to be something they're not.

One of the great shames in modern media is the trend that has become mainstream, and that is to elevate words on social media into news. When it comes from a source you can attribute, a name you recognise, and can confirm, it's useful. But when it comes from Marion, who's been a National Party supporter all her life but now hates Bridges, that's not news.

And no amount of bile spouted forth allegedly saying the same thing 1000 times over makes it news. And it's not news because as they say in the trade you can't stand it up. You don't know who these people are, you don't know and can't confirm that what these people say is true.

Having been in this game for 38 years the clues are as follows, when they say "I'm never listening to you again", it's mainly not true because if it was I wouldn't be number one, and by a large margin. When they say "I've been a supporter for years, but..." it's highly likely to be untrue as well.

Of the thousands who piled onto the Bridges post some will have been genuinely disagreeing, but not as many as were simply commenting on a comment. That is the bit that's not news.

I learned this years back when Jonathan Ross and Russell Brand were under siege at the BBC over a stunt involving a thing that became known as "Manuelgate." Turns out most of those who wanted them sacked hadn't actually heard the event itself, they had merely heard of the event.

• Simon Bridges denies claims of impending National Party coup

That's social media all day long. It's a pile on. By the time you get to comment 8000 they have no idea what the original event actually involved. This crap happens to me all the time.

Hence it isn't, wasn’t and never should have been news, a headline, or taken remotely seriously. Far less elevated into a coup attempt.

If this is the stuff, the so called journalism, that needs supporting, I'll pass.