Selective Reportage?

The Treaty Principles Bill has passed it's first reading and has been referred to the Justice Committee. 

It'd gone quiet in the media, and that, coupled to the exhaustively-reported noise around the attempts to 'kill the bill' have left me a couple of questions.

Will the progress through the submissions process, where matters of fact are opinion are submitted for close scrutiny, get the same degree of coverage as protests and banner waving? 

I suspect not, but I sincerely hope I'm wrong, as it would be a huge journalistic disservice to the mechanics of the democratic process. 

If coverage is poor or non-existent, what is it going to do to already failing public trust in media?

I'm waiting on the next AUT media trust survey, due in April 2025 - if the last few year's schedule is kept. Given coverage of recent events, I believe the numbers will fall again, and by a lot in some cases. If your mainstream media aren't perceived as credible any long, but as advocates, do they have any future?

National seems to be having difficulty with resetting the economy on a path to prosperity. If that continues, is pressure is going to mount, on National in general and the PM in particular, from MPs looking over their shoulders at the number of dissatisfied voters who support the bill's intent to openly discuss our constitutional arrangements?

It might be that the it would be a very welcome distraction from our lack of economic performance and that things are tough for a lot of people who supported National. And the bill has support at a ratio of around 2:1. That's going to be really hard to ignore if you're National and you have aspirations of a second term. The reluctance to have  transparent discussion also looks weak: that greatest of NZ political sins.