How NOT to win friends (in the media) and influence people

Patrick Gower from 3News has gone gangbusters on the Labour Party, and particularly on Labour Leader David Shearer. Here's some of Gower's tweets from yesterday afternoon and evening:

We can understand Gower's frustration. It is his job to get comment from politicians on the issues of the day. And Labour's appalling management of the Man-Ban issue has ensured that it is the issue that everyone wants comment on. 

It's a sad fact of political life that politicians cannot afford to make enemies out of the media. That Paddy Gower is lambasting "Labour's pathetic & lazy spin tactics" suggests that the relationship between the Labour Party leader's office and the media is as dysfunction as the Labour Party itself.

Question Time this afternoon will be interesting. Labour is in meltdown at a time when it should be holding the Government to account. If David Shearer asks John Key one of those banal "Does he stand by all his statements?" questions, he should prepare for his current discomfort to be exacerbated by the Prime Minister.

Is there a way out of this for Labour? That's the money question...