Media pounces on anything off-message
In pouncing on anything supposedly "off-message", the media makes it difficult for public figures to engage in mature, exploratory discussion of complex issues.
Argument made by a commentator on Comment is Free and quoted by
Mick Fealty:
"The symbiosis between the media and politicians is corrosive, and much more damaging is the incessant hyping of anything "off-message". All we end up with is dissembling drones, paranoid of the latest media witch hunt."