Be nice if this country had some more journalists with courage. Instead too many have made a virtue of stenographers and gotcha hacks. This will happen when we suck on the propaganda bubble.
The Daily Blog weekly measurably descends further and further into a conspiracy theory laden cesspit of stupidity.
It is difficult to over-emphasise how much the The Daily Blog has drifted to a far right conspiracy theory site these days. Bradbury makes claims about events conducted by "the woke" and "the professional middle class" that happen outside the realm of observation, that are often outlandish and far-fetched, and that are not even necessarily meant to be believed, but rather function as part of his on going smear campaigns against his vast array of enemies real and imagined.
It's being part of being of the alt media, here man of the people/popular masses/working class against the establiishment.
Being one of that group, while of the left, reminds one of the Strasser brothers, however Bomber is more the man vs woke liberal feminists than an ally of the race based social conservatives.
You handle the Gonzo nature of TDB or not I guess. It started out with union sponsors and some pretty good writers, most of whom rarely contribute any more. Wayne Hope, Susan St. John, Dr David Robie and Mike Treen being exceptions albeit not regularly.
It is a bit of a blocked S–bend the way a bunch of nutters have slipped their collar from various right wing blogs and been encouraged at TDB. The “woke” meme and late 90s look are indeed tiresome.
And…The Standard…some great people here, and some unrepentant Rogernomes.
I agree with Sanc re BB's writing style, it's combative, puerile and reads like an absolute dog. I wish he had someone to second and make his thoughts more readable, as there is a lot of good stuff that's he's trying to say amongst all that.
I suggested he hire Toby Manhire to write on his behalf (instead of just railing about him), as that guy can seriously write, but the comment got blocked .
I was a regular contributor to TDB for a few years but eventually got sick and tired of Bradbury's woke rants, the trolls and nutters who just wanted to abuse people, not engage in any meaningful debate. So I came here instead, much better.
Reports off the wire get changed all the time, to full out the context and put it into the local context.
Such is sensible journalism. I suspect what the controversy is about is misrepresentation though. Amending stuff from Reuters would only have an ethical basis if the editor declared that the story had been amended…
There is too much pro-Ukraine (almost propaganda) floating around in the MSM. It has been good to see a note of realism in the reporting of the recent Ukraine offensive operations.
But I have difficulty with praise for The Daily Blog. Bomber's growing obsession with wokeness is frankly weird. And now he is criticising the Green's radical Wealth Tax saying:
"but the reliance on a the wealth tax to do all the heavy lifting here is simply delusional."
This is also weird-I thought Bomber was strongly in favour of a WT and to my knowledge the Greens have not ruled out other measures in addition to this. But he is right that a Land Tax is a good option.
I would suggest that some of the Standard's commentators fall into the same category for criticism as RNZ, hence the vitriolic attacks on the Daily Blog above.
The words of Chris Trotter
The people’s broadcaster became both the purveyor and defender of neoliberal and social-liberal orthodoxy – as swift to denounce Posie Parker as Vladimir Putin. Contracting-out economic commentary to the Aussie banks’ in-house economists, and political commentary to PR firms. It’s journalists appeared to be more comfortable attacking Hate Speech than defending Free Speech.
Orthodoxy and Dissidence at the Standard – that would make a good post.
The main reasons the Daily Blog is criticised is 1) it's owner appears to be a deeply unpleasant bully and 2) the site is riddled with conspiracy thinking and alt-right memes. You only have to read the comments section to see the place attracts lunatics and losers by the bucketload.
Bradbury's predilection for objectifying his enemies as collectively part of some sort of organised conspiracy is disturbing, and he seldom offers much by way of constructive solutions to anything. His posts generally consist of the same cut-and-pasted talking points endlessly and bombastically re-cycled. I mean, the guy believes in flying saucers FFS.
I think a key difference between many of the contributors on this site and TDB is the Standard contains many people who have had successful careers working with or as part of institutions, and they bring with that actual life experience and insight into the difficulties of generating change in an environment that is ambiently hostile to even moderately left wing agendas. The TBD consists largely of serial complainers and professional fringe merchants who long ago fell victim to the romance of dissidence and whilst they are veterans of protest, they offer little by way of practical insight on how to get change over the line.
Bradbury is an egotistical blowhard and a serial chancer whose failed attempts of being a disrupter to the hated establishment included buddying up to Kim Dotcom, because – surprise, surprise – he thought the Internet party would be the "king makers" who'd shake thing up. Nowadays he shills TOP and Maori party as the latest batters up in his quest to get payback on the establishment.
He attracts some interesting commentators who should know better to his podcast I believe but the site itself is just a shithole.
TPM seem to me to be largely interested in playing performative games as they really don't want to recognise the legitimacy of parliamentary government in NZ. Insofar as they don't believe in our current democratic arrangements or the legitimacy of the "settler state" they have no business with accepting a seat and salary within it's institutions.
TOP are a contradiction in terms, a centrist anti-establishment party. In reality it is just another attempt at the suppression of politics with "applied common sense".
I think the key word in your assessment of tpm is 'performative'..
But dig down and their social policies are old school labour/dismantling of the neoliberal policies adhered to by labour post ' '84.
And they are a tidy fit with the social policies of the greens..(hence my spine metaphor..)
But looking past the 'performative'..much of tpm is whathat labour used to be all about..
Another interesting aspect of this is I heard on mainstream media..that is that there has been a noticable increase on those on the maori roll..having moved from the general roll..
And as far as that is concerned..I can only see tpm benefitting from that shift..
And to my mind this will be a very good/coalition spine-building thing…
Luckily the standard is not just a reflection of it commentators, otherwise it might be misread as a elitist, smug collection of know it all's who think their farts don't smell.
' ….Because the narrative that [Trotter] is constructing is one that the left wing, not the right, is actively dismantling and destroying the system of rights and privileges that we as a democracy have..
…It's dangerous because what it does is shift the narrative from the clear and present danger being presented by the far right to our democracy and social cohesion to one being presented by the left; spearheaded by a Labour government with all infinite power to change our lives via a majority in Parliament and further supported by the Greens and their "extremist" views.
It portrays those on the far right, and on the right in general, as very much victims of a wider plot by the left to shut them out of democracy and violating their freedom of expression. It's an attempt to gaslight the public into believing that they are the "true victims" of perceived state repression and paint them in a more positive light by dressing their cause up as a resistance to overbearing government mandates and regulations, the dark veil of "censorship" via "cancel culture", and the many other talking points of the culture war the right has wholesale adopted from elsewhere.'
It's censorship if facts are suppressed, but it's not facts that are the weapons of choice, but disinformation, feelings, nebulous rumours, fostering political tribalism, and hate-filled othering of minorities.
Listen to the RNZ interview: ethical journalists and truthful(ish) governments are caught in a stick: reportage to debunk becomes amplification of the lies.
Did you miss the opening remarks, they have convicted the reporter and effectively calling him a Putin puppet. Then moan how could this happen to RNZ.
You undercut you own argument by that piece of reporting being emotive, fostering political tribalism, and disinformation. Their feeling have been hurt and the digital reporter is to blame.
It felt like a skit from not the nine o'clock news. This is why I hardly listen to RNZ after it got gutted by Key and co. 9 till noon is just truly awful, the stasi would be proud.
Yeah, that default to a mainstreamer view eternally propounded by state media has always irritated me too. You can see why online culture has proliferated alt views. Trouble is, too many are delusional.
It's the antique conundrum: caught between the devil & the deep blue sea. The devil works within the control system to direct state media toward controller-approved narratives while competing storytellers have another toke & hallucinate. However the good news is that we can escape that binary via a third alternative: relativise all views.
The 21st century alt-media ocean is treacherous. We'd like somewhere to stand on common ground, but it's all awash out there…
It's delusional to think we live in societies without bias. It's that Chomsky thing, where to function together, we have to agree on a few basic stories about ourselves. Of course governments shape that narrative.
I became aware of 'party lines' at the age of 10 or so. The Catholic magazine, Zelandia I think it was, had a different version of events in the 'Irish Troubles' from the BBC-derived story on tv news here. And, of course, there was the gap between scurrilous, but true, Wellington gossip Muldoon and what appeared in national media. Oh, and working out that Readers Digest toilet reading spun emotive yarns.
That why we have brains, to learn how detect bullshit when it's being flogged to us.Unfortunately, Trump began an avalanche of ‘alternative facts’ in political discourse. Chaff strewing wasa Nazi propaganda tactic – put so much in the water that facts and logical discourse become obscured by outrage of the day.
It has it own set of problems. But on the whole I find it better than most here. Also broader in the people and opinions it expresses. Bigger population helps.
During the submissions on RNZ and TVNZ I put forward the idea, That the ABC take over operations of our public media, and tax the banks to pay for it – as they are Australian anyway.
Reuters produces general news content, and does not allow change of their content of without permission, which is what the RNZ editor did. This broke both the editor's responsibility as an employee, and RNZ's terms and conditions with Reuters.
Here's Reuters rating for factual reliability. 'Reuters achieved the fifth-highest score for any site that we analyzed. This suggests that articles from Reuters are highly neutral in their reporting, strictly conveying information in an objective and unbiased way.'
And here is RTs rating. 'RT scored an average Factual Grade of 41.8%, placing it in the 1st percentile of our dataset. This is the third-lowest score for any site that we analyzed.'
Really, quoting the corporate web site factual who is owned by yahoo – who in turn are owned by Apollo Asset Management a company who ranks rather low on most trust meters, and quite high on the corporate spin meters is rather funny. Irony is such a harsh task master.
What the does the straw man RT have to do with anything?
In wars people lie. Short and simple. Don't think for one minute Reuters are above it, they have been caught lying before and lying by omission is still a lie.
'The Factual' analyses (among many things) articles written by media organisations/news sources to obtain a "Factual Grade", and a "Writing Tone" metric (how neutral/opinionated articles are) for each source.
Here's Reuters rating for factual reliability. 'Reuters achieved the fifth-highest score for any site that we analyzed. This suggests that articles from Reuters are highly neutral in their reporting, strictly conveying information in an objective and unbiased way.'
According to the info in that link, "Reuters scored an average Factual Grade of 69.8%", which places it in 42nd place (of 239 sources analysed.) Reuters' average 'Writing Tone' score was 0.80, which has the much higher ranking of 5th place.
So, Reuters is pretty good overall, and better for 'Tone' than 'Factual'.
Interestingly (unsurprisingly?), five of the top ten 'Factual' sources have strong STEM themes:
Something very odd at the end of the article discussing the Australian diplomat. Apparently Luke Harding wants to highlight the diplomats involvement in the now discredited Trump Russia investigation. That looks rather odd coming from the author of the book 'Collusion', promoting the whole conspiracy.
Neoliberals do gradualism routinely. The idea is that Adam's Smith's invisible hand takes a while to get moving – but boy, it sure is inertial once it gets moving.
the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment, Simon Upton who commissioned a report to look at the country’s electricity generation options as it decarbonises. The findings will also make National’s energy policy look ridiculous, given that it has pledged to immediately scrap all work on Onslow if it forms the next government. What will leave even more egg on National’s face is that it has generally taken notice of what Upton has had to say on issues like the Natural and Built Environments Bill and climate change. And, after all, he is a former National Minister and a pretty significant one at that.
Upton’s report finds that the annual emissions savings from Onslow (including from the construction of Onslow) would be equivalent to around 0.06% of New Zealand’s total emissions.
Accuse me of heresy if you like, but a big spend-up to eliminate .06% of a problem ain't no master-stroke. However, David Parker sometimes gets it right – best to wait & see.
So the difference between National & Labour re climate change is the difference between do nothing and do something infinitesimally small. Simon Upton does us all a favour by high-lighting this dramatic difference between the right & the left.
Onslow only saves 0.06% of NZ's emissions so is also a non-starter.
Closing Tiwai would buy NZ a lot of time. During this time rapidly evolving battery technology may well advance to a point that battery-storage as opposed to Onslow-storage would be cheaper and more efficient. At the same time other power saving technologies would also be developed such as smart meters for homes.
Can you explain the hydrogen comment? I keep hearing it's "just storage" not generation, but isn't that the same with fuel? I'm a bit lost in the forest of it (sorry about that and thanks).
Thanks tWiggle – I do hope that the 'make NZ ungovernable' anti-democracy movement doesn't grow, but multiple global challenges are fuelling conspiracy theories/theorists.
Would value- (save lives), evidence-based responses to pandemic threats have caused a smaller ripple of disaffection 40 years ago? Possibly less 'entitled exceptionalism', no online social media amplifying fringe theories, and less backlash against 'team of 3 million'-type memes? It may be self deception, but I'd like to think so.
The Weaponization of Conspiracy Theories: A Growing National Security Threat [11 May 2022; PDF]
Humans do not cognitively manage uncertainty well. We regularly look for quick, simplified answers to assuage the discomfort that comes with attempting to discern meaning in the ambiguity and nuance of significant events, such as 9/11 or the coronavirus pandemic. Conspiracy theories provide one such pathway to resolving uncertainty in the face of reality’s complexity and they often present new communities for disaffected individuals. In this new in-group, individuals find fellow travelers of like mind, and most importantly, there is a diminished chance that one’s niche, outlandish thoughts will be derided by their peers. Conspiracy theories often present individuals a means to express agency and conduct a personal or collective search for truth — a process of discovery that can reduce uncertainty and provide a sense of purpose. However, conspiracy theories rarely exist in isolation and often overlap heavily with other conspiracy theories, creating suites of similarly oriented outlooks that can be rotated at will by adherents. Thus, the process of discovery can become an all-consuming facet of one’s life that perpetually moves the goal posts on identifying “truth.”
Choose your reality: Trust wanes, conspiracy theories rise [10 July 2022]
Rejecting what they hear from scientists, journalists or public officials, these people instead embrace tales of dark plots and secret explanations. And their beliefs, say experts who study misinformation and extremism, reflect a widespread loss of faith in institutions like government and media.
Shining a spotlight on the dangerous consequences of conspiracy theories [October 2022]
The COVID-19 pandemic has illuminated how conspiracy beliefs–that explain important events as the secret actions of the powerful–can severely impact health choices (such as reduced infection-prevention behaviours). However, the consequences of conspiracy beliefs span far beyond the topic of COVID-19. This review shines a spotlight on how conspiracy beliefs could impact public and personal health (e.g., vaccine uptake), democratic citizenship (e.g., political engagement), intergroup relations (e.g., prejudice and discrimination), and may inspire violence and extremism. We argue that conspiracy beliefs are likely to have the power to mobilise citizens in ways detrimental to a smooth-running society.
Contemporary trends in psychological research on conspiracy beliefs. A systematic review [8 February 2023]
The research presents evidence on the links between conspiracy beliefs and a range of attitudes and behaviors considered unfavorable from the point of view of individuals and of the society at large. It turned out that different constructs of conspiracy thinking interact with each other.
To boil down your posts, and what a slog, they are all about anti-radicalization in any form.
Which in the face of economic beating most people are taking is well, I'll let you decide.
Plus the climate crisis, this pressure on people and their lives is just getting worse.
Come on, be honest with people. About the economic situation they are in and why its that way – and most of this crap about conspiracy theories will fall by the way side.
To pretend that this system is fine, and people are not suffering from this hellish economic b.s. – makes you just as bad, if not worse, than those pushing conspiracy theories.
To boil down your posts, and what a slog, they are all about anti-radicalization in any form.
…
To pretend that this system is fine, and people are not suffering from this hellish economic b.s. – makes you just as bad, if not worse, than those pushing conspiracy theories.
adam, sorry you feel that I'm "just as bad, if not worse, than those pushing conspiracy theories" – let's agree to disagree. "From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs" [Marx] may not be sufficiently radical for you, but it appeals to me as a way through our footprint-related challenges. I favour greatly increasing wealth redistribution – recent Green party policies would be a start.
seems such a strange take on my comment(s). Many Kiwis are suffering real deprivation. If "pushing conspiracy theories" has the potential to alleviate financial hardship, then "show me the money", but imho many conspiracy theories are at best distractions, and often used by grifters to cynically manipulate their marks.
My apologies for my clumsy writing, it was not meant as a personal attack. It was meant as an attack on the pieces posted, and their push to quell any and all radicalization to the current system.
And yes I find Marx lacking in many ways. His analytical skills are second to none, but, his social solutions show up his class, race, and misogyny. Engels was a more rounded figure in that regard.
As for economic deprivation, poverty is a breading ground for all sorts of tomfoolery. Especially the self destructive kind. Conspiracy theories are right up there with substance abuse and self mutilation. None produce economic benefit, but all fill a gap in a persons life. As you say, a situation easily exploited in a society such as ours. Where the greedy keep trying to fill their craven needs.
I was delighted to see that despite what Michael Wood has gone through (OK, he should have got rid of those damn shares much earlier), he still has managed a quick reposte to Erica Stanford's witterings on the AM show this morning. Being retired, I don't do mornings, let alone what passes for morning TV shows, though I was up bright and bushy tailed today to do battle at our local CAB. I came across this snippet on STUFF and had a wee chortle. I also took note of Erica Stanford on '7 Days' last evening in the 'Yes Minister' segment. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the format, a parliamentarian, Minister, Back Bencher, Govt or Opposition MP cames in to answer questions which are pretty loaded and they are not to answer YES or NO. Our Erica was in jovial spirits and answering correctly until she didn't and said the Y word, so that was that. She looked as black as her outfit when told to vacate the stage – the old saying came to me 'if looks could kill'. I don't think she was a happy chappy.
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It is all very well cutting the backrooms of public agencies but it may compromise the frontlines. One of the frustrations of the Productivity Commission’s 2017 review of universities is that while it observed that their non-academic staff were increasing faster than their academic staff, it did not bother to ...
Buzz from the Beehive Two speeches delivered by Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters at Anzac Day ceremonies in Turkey are the only new posts on the government’s official website since the PM announced his Cabinet shake-up. In one of the speeches, Peters stated the obvious: we live in a troubled ...
1. Which of these would you not expect to read in The Waikato Invader?a. Luxon is here to do business, don’t you worry about thatb. Mr KPI expects results, and you better believe itc. This decisive man of action is getting me all hot and excitedd. Melissa Lee is how ...
…it has a restricted jurisdiction which must not be abused: it is not an inquisitionNOTE – this article was published before the High Court ruled that Karen Chhour does not have to appear before the Waitangi Tribunal Gary Judd writes – The High Court ...
Lindsay Mitchell writes – One of reasons Oranga Tamariki exists is to prevent child neglect. But could the organisation itself be guilty of the same?Oranga Tamariki’s statistics show a decrease in the number and age of children in care. “There are less children ...
David Farrar writes: Graeme Edgeler wrote in 2017: In the first five years after three strikes came into effect 5248 offenders received a ‘first strike’ (that is, a “stage-1 conviction” under the three strikes sentencing regime), and 68 offenders received a ‘second strike’. In the five years prior to ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has surprised everyone with his ruthlessness in sacking two of his ministers from their crucial portfolios. Removing ministers for poor performance after only five months in the job just doesn’t normally happen in politics. That’s refreshing and will be extremely ...
TL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the two days to 6:06am on Thursday, April 25:Politics: PM Christopher Luxon has set up a dual standard for ministerial competence by demoting two National Cabinet ministers while leaving also-struggling ...
Hi,Today I mainly want to share some of your thoughts about the recent piece I wrote about success and failure, and the forces that seemingly guide our lives. But first, a quick bit of housekeeping: I am doing a Webworm popup in Los Angeles on Saturday May 11 at 2pm. ...
It is hard to see what Melissa Lee might have done to “save” the media. National went into the election with no public media policy and appears not to have developed one subsequently. Lee claimed that she had prepared a policy paper before the election but it had been decided ...
Open access notablesIce acceleration and rotation in the Greenland Ice Sheet interior in recent decades, Løkkegaard et al., Communications Earth & Environment:In the past two decades, mass loss from the Greenland ice sheet has accelerated, partly due to the speedup of glaciers. However, uncertainty in speed derived from satellite products ...
Buzz from the Beehive A statement from Children’s Minister Karen Chhour – yet to be posted on the Government’s official website – arrived in Point of Order’s email in-tray last night. It welcomes the High Court ruling on whether the Waitangi Tribunal can demand she appear before it. It does ...
Mr Bombastic:Ironically, the media the academic experts wanted is, in many ways, the media they got. In place of the tyrannical editors of yesteryear, advancing without fear or favour the interests of the ruling class; the New Zealand news media of today boasts a troop of enlightened journalists dedicated to ...
It's hard times try to make a livingYou wake up every morning in the unforgivingOut there somewhere in the cityThere's people living lives without mercy or pityI feel good, yeah I'm feeling fineI feel better then I have for the longest timeI think these pills have been good for meI ...
In 1974, the US Supreme Court issued its decision in United States v. Nixon, finding that the President was not a King, but was subject to the law and was required to turn over the evidence of his wrongdoing to the courts. It was a landmark decision for the rule ...
Every day now just seems to bring in more fresh meat for the grinder.In their relentlessly ideological drive to cut back on the “excessive bloat” (as they see it) of the previous Labour-led government, on the mountains of evidence accumulated in such a short period of time do not ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Megan Valére SosouMarket gardening site of the Itchèléré de Itagui agricultural cooperative in Dassa-Zoumè (Image credit: Megan Valère Sossou) For the residents of Dassa-Zoumè, a city in the West African country of Benin, choosing between drinking water and having enough ...
Buzz from the Beehive Melissa Lee – as may be discerned from the screenshot above – has not been demoted for doing something seriously wrong as Minister of ...
Morning in London Mother hugs beloved daughter outside the converted shoe factory in which she is living.Afternoon in London Travelling writer takes himself and his wrist down to A&E, just to be sure. Read more ...
Mike Grimshaw writes – The recent announcement of the University Advisory Group, chaired by Sir Peter Gluckman, makes very clear where the Government’s focus and priorities lie. The remit of the Advisory Group is that Group members will consider challenges and opportunities for improvement in the university sector including: ...
Eric Crampton writes – The Reserve Bank of New Zealand desperately wants to find reasons to have workstreams in climate change. It makes little sense. They’ve run another stress test on the banks looking to see if they could find a prudential regulation case. They couldn’t. They ...
Rob MacCullough writes – Pundits from the left and the right are arguing that National’s Fast Track Bill that is designed to speed up infrastructure decisions could end up becoming mired in a cesspool of corruption. Political commentator ...
Looking at the headlines this morning it’s hard to feel anything other than pessimistic about the future of humanity.Note that I’m not speaking about the future of mankind, but the survival of our humanity. The values that we believe in seem to be ebbing away, by the day.Perhaps every generation ...
Swabbing mixed breed baby chicks to test for avian influenzaUh oh. Bird flu – often deadly to humans – is not only being transmitted from infected birds to dairy cows, but is now travelling between dairy cows. As of last Friday, Bloomberg News reports, there were 32 American dairy herds ...
This afternoon’s interim Waitangi Tribunal report must be taken seriously as it affects our most vulnerable children, Labour children’s spokesperson Willow-Jean Prime. ...
Te Pāti Māori are demanding the New Zealand Government support an international independent investigation into mass graves that have been uncovered at two hospitals on the Gaza strip, following weeks of assault by Israeli troops. Among the 392 bodies that have been recovered, are children and elderly civilians. Many of ...
Our two-tiered system for veterans’ support is out of step with our closest partners, and all parties in Parliament should work together to fix it, Labour veterans’ affairs spokesperson Greg O’Connor said. ...
Stripping two Ministers of their portfolios just six months into the job shows Christopher Luxon’s management style is lacking, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said. ...
Tonight’s court decision to overturn the summons of the Children’s Minister has enabled the Crown to continue making decisions about Māori without evidence, says Te Pāti Māori spokesperson for Children, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “The judicial system has this evening told the nation that this government can do whatever they want when ...
It appears Nicola Willis is about to pull the rug out from under the feet of local communities still dealing with the aftermath of last year’s severe weather, and local councils relying on funding to build back from these disasters. ...
The Government is making short-sighted changes to the Resource Management Act (RMA) that will take away environmental protection in favour of short-term profits, Labour’s environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
Labour welcomes the release of the report into the North Island weather events and looks forward to working with the Government to ensure that New Zealand is as prepared as it can be for the next natural disaster. ...
The Labour Party has called for the New Zealand Government to recognise Palestine, as a material step towards progressing the two-State solution needed to achieve a lasting peace in the region. ...
Some of our country’s most important work, stopping the sexual exploitation of children and violent extremism could go along with staff on the frontline at ports and airports. ...
The Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill will give projects such as new coal mines a ‘get out of jail free’ card to wreak havoc on the environment, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
The government's decision to reintroduce Three Strikes is a destructive and ineffective piece of law-making that will only exacerbate an inherently biased and racist criminal justice system, said Te Pāti Māori Justice Spokesperson, Tākuta Ferris, today. During the time Three Strikes was in place in Aotearoa, Māori and Pasifika received ...
Cuts to frontline hospital staff are not only a broken election promise, it shows the reckless tax cuts have well and truly hit the frontline of the health system, says Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall. ...
The Green Party has joined the call for public submissions on the fast-track legislation to be extended after the Ombudsman forced the Government to release the list of organisations invited to apply just hours before submissions close. ...
New Zealand’s good work at reducing climate emissions for three years in a row will be undone by the National government’s lack of ambition and scrapping programmes that were making a difference, Labour Party climate spokesperson Megan Woods said today. ...
More essential jobs could be on the chopping block, this time Ministry of Education staff on the school lunches team are set to find out whether they're in line to lose their jobs. ...
Te Pāti Māori is disgusted at the confirmation that hundreds are set to lose their jobs at Oranga Tamariki, and the disestablishment of the Treaty Response Unit. “This act of absolute carelessness and out of touch decision making is committing tamariki to state abuse.” Said Te Pāti Māori Oranga Tamariki ...
The Government is trying to bring in a law that will allow Ministers to cut corners and kill off native species, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said. ...
Cancelling urgently needed new Cook Strait ferries and hiking the cost of public transport for many Kiwis so that National can announce the prospect of another tunnel for Wellington is not making good choices, Labour Transport Spokesperson Tangi Utikere said. ...
A laundry list of additional costs for Tāmaki Makarau Auckland shows the Minister for the city is not delivering for the people who live there, says Labour Auckland Issues spokesperson Shanan Halbert. ...
Te Pāti Māori co-leader Rawiri Waititi, and Mema Paremata mō Tāmaki-Makaurau, Takutai Tarsh Kemp, will travel to the Gold Coast to strengthen ties with Māori in Australia next week (15-21 April). The visit, in the lead-up to the 9th Australian National Kapa haka Festival, will be an opportunity for both ...
The Green Party has today launched a step-by-step guide to help New Zealanders make their voice heard on the Government’s democracy dodging and anti-environment fast track legislation. ...
The National Government’s proposed changes to the Residential Tenancies Act will mean tenants can be turfed from their homes by landlords with little notice, Labour housing spokesperson Kieran McAnulty said. ...
Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson is calling on all parties to support a common-sense change that’s great for the planet and great for consumers after her member’s bill was drawn from the ballot today. ...
People with an interest in the health of Northland’s marine ecosystems are invited to a public meeting to discuss how to deal with kina barrens, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones will lead the discussion, which will take place on Friday, 10 May, at Awanui Hotel in ...
Kiwi exporters are $100 million better off today with the NZ EU FTA entering into force says Trade Minister Todd McClay. “This is all part of our plan to grow the economy. New Zealand's prosperity depends on international trade, making up 60 per cent of the country’s total economic activity. ...
There are heartening signs that the extractive sector is once again becoming an attractive prospect for investors and a source of economic prosperity for New Zealand, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. “The beginnings of a resurgence in extractive industries are apparent in media reports of the sector in the past ...
The return of the historic Ō-Rākau battle site to the descendants of those who fought there moved one step closer today with the first reading of Te Pire mō Ō-Rākau, Te Pae o Maumahara / The Ō-Rākau Remembrance Bill. The Bill will entrust the 9.7-hectare battle site, five kilometres west ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has announced 25 new high-speed EV charging hubs along key routes between major urban centres and outlined the Government’s plan to supercharge New Zealand’s EV infrastructure. The hubs will each have several chargers and be capable of charging at least four – and up to 10 ...
The coalition Government will not proceed with the previous Government’s plans to regulate residential property managers, Housing Minister Chris Bishop says. “I have written to the Chairperson of the Social Services and Community Committee to inform him that the Government does not intend to support the Residential Property Managers Bill ...
The Government has announced an independent review into the disability support system funded by the Ministry of Disabled People – Whaikaha. Disability Issues Minister Louise Upston says the review will look at what can be done to strengthen the long-term sustainability of Disability Support Services to provide disabled people and ...
Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith has attended the Universal Periodic Review in Geneva and outlined the Government’s plan to restore law and order. “Speaking to the United Nations Human Rights Council provided us with an opportunity to present New Zealand’s human rights progress, priorities, and challenges, while responding to issues and ...
The Government and Rotorua Lakes Council are committed to working closely together to end the use of contracted emergency housing motels in Rotorua. Associate Minister of Housing (Social Housing) Tama Potaka says the Government remains committed to ending the long-term use of contracted emergency housing motels in Rotorua by the ...
Trade Minister Todd McClay heads overseas today for high-level trade talks in the Gulf region, and a key OECD meeting in Paris. Mr McClay will travel to Riyadh to meet with counterparts from Saudi Arabia and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). “New Zealand’s goods and services exports to the Gulf region ...
Education Minister Erica Stanford has outlined six education priorities to deliver a world-leading education system that sets Kiwi kids up for future success. “I’m putting ambition, achievement and outcomes at the heart of our education system. I want every child to be inspired and engaged in their learning so they ...
The new NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) App is a secure ‘one stop shop’ to provide the services drivers need, Transport Minister Simeon Brown and Digitising Government Minister Judith Collins say. “The NZTA App will enable an easier way for Kiwis to pay for Vehicle Registration and Road User Charges (RUC). ...
Whānau with tamariki growing up in emergency housing motels will be prioritised for social housing starting this week, says Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka. “Giving these whānau a better opportunity to build healthy stable lives for themselves and future generations is an essential part of the Government’s goal of reducing ...
Racing Minister Winston Peters has paid tribute to an icon of the industry with the recent passing of Dave O’Sullivan (OBE). “Our sympathies are with the O’Sullivan family with the sad news of Dave O’Sullivan’s recent passing,” Mr Peters says. “His contribution to racing, initially as a jockey and then ...
Assalaamu alaikum, greetings to you all. Eid Mubarak, everyone! I want to extend my warmest wishes to you and everyone celebrating this joyous occasion. It is a pleasure to be here. I have enjoyed Eid celebrations at Parliament before, but this is my first time joining you as the Minister ...
Associate Health Minister David Seymour has announced Pharmac’s largest ever budget of $6.294 billion over four years, fixing a $1.774 billion fiscal cliff. “Access to medicines is a crucial part of many Kiwis’ lives. We’ve committed to a budget allocation of $1.774 billion over four years so Kiwis are ...
Hon Paula Bennett has been appointed as member and chair of the Pharmac board, Associate Health Minister David Seymour announced today. "Pharmac is a critical part of New Zealand's health system and plays a significant role in ensuring that Kiwis have the best possible access to medicines,” says Mr Seymour. ...
Hundreds of New Zealand families affected by Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) will benefit from a new Government focus on prevention and treatment, says Health Minister Dr Shane Reti. “We know FASD is a leading cause of preventable intellectual and neurodevelopmental disability in New Zealand,” Dr Reti says. “Every day, ...
Regional Development Minister Shane Jones today attended the official opening of Kaikohe’s new $14.7 million sports complex. “The completion of the Kaikohe Multi Sports Complex is a fantastic achievement for the Far North,” Mr Jones says. “This facility not only fulfils a long-held dream for local athletes, but also creates ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters’ engagements in Türkiye this week underlined the importance of diplomacy to meet growing global challenges. “Returning to the Gallipoli Peninsula to represent New Zealand at Anzac commemorations was a sombre reminder of the critical importance of diplomacy for de-escalating conflicts and easing tensions,” Mr Peters ...
Ambassador Millar, Burgemeester, Vandepitte, Excellencies, military representatives, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen – good morning and welcome to this sacred Anzac Day dawn service. It is an honour to be here on behalf of the Government and people of New Zealand at Buttes New British Cemetery, Polygon Wood – a deeply ...
Distinguished guests - It is an honour to return once again to this site which, as the resting place for so many of our war-dead, has become a sacred place for generations of New Zealanders. Our presence here and at the other special spaces of Gallipoli is made ...
Mai ia tawhiti pamamao, te moana nui a Kiwa, kua tae whakaiti mai matou, ki to koutou papa whenua. No koutou te tapuwae, no matou te tapuwae, kua honoa pumautia. Ko nga toa kua hinga nei, o te Waipounamu, o te Ika a Maui, he okioki tahi me o ...
Paul Goldsmith will take on responsibility for the Media and Communications portfolio, while Louise Upston will pick up the Disability Issues portfolio, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon announced today. “Our Government is relentlessly focused on getting New Zealand back on track. As issues change in prominence, I plan to adjust Ministerial ...
Recreational catch limits will be reduced in areas of Fiordland and the Chatham Islands to help keep those fisheries healthy and sustainable, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. The lower recreational daily catch limits for a range of finfish and shellfish species caught in the Fiordland Marine Area and ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed an important milestone in New Zealand’s hydrogen future, with the opening of the country’s first network of hydrogen refuelling stations in Wiri. “I want to congratulate the team at Hiringa Energy and its partners K one W one (K1W1), Mitsui & Co New Zealand ...
The coalition Government is delivering on its commitment to improve resource management laws and give greater certainty to consent applicants, with a Bill to amend the Resource Management Act (RMA) expected to be introduced to Parliament next month. RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop has today outlined the first RMA Amendment ...
Overseas models for regulating the oil and gas sector, including their decommissioning regimes, are being carefully scrutinised as a potential template for New Zealand’s own sector, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. The Coalition Government is focused on rebuilding investor confidence in New Zealand’s energy sector as it looks to strengthen ...
Emergency Management and Recovery Minister Mark Mitchell has today released the Report of the Government Inquiry into the response to the North Island Severe Weather Events. “The report shows that New Zealand’s emergency management system is not fit-for-purpose and there are some significant gaps we need to address,” Mr Mitchell ...
Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith is today travelling to Europe where he’ll update the United Nations Human Rights Council on the Government’s work to restore law and order. “Attending the Universal Periodic Review in Geneva provides us with an opportunity to present New Zealand’s human rights progress, priorities, and challenges, while ...
Associate Agriculture Minister, Mark Patterson, formally reopened the world’s largest wool processing facility today in Awatoto, Napier, following a $50 million rebuild and refurbishment project. “The reopening of this facility will significantly lift the economic opportunities available to New Zealand’s wool sector, which already accounts for 20 per cent of ...
Hon Andrew Bayly, Minister for Small Business and Manufacturing At the Southland Otago Regional Engineering Collective (SOREC) Summit, 18 April, Dunedin Ngā mihi nui, Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Ko Whanganui aho Good Afternoon and thank you for inviting me to open your summit today. I am delighted ...
The Government is delivering on its commitment to bring back the Three Strikes legislation, Associate Justice Minister Nicole McKee announced today. “Our Government is committed to restoring law and order and enforcing appropriate consequences on criminals. We are making it clear that repeat serious violent or sexual offending is not ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has today announced four new diplomatic appointments for New Zealand’s overseas missions. “Our diplomats have a vital role in maintaining and protecting New Zealand’s interests around the world,” Mr Peters says. “I am pleased to announce the appointment of these senior diplomats from the ...
New Zealand is contributing NZ$7 million to support communities affected by severe food insecurity and other urgent humanitarian needs in Ethiopia and Somalia, Foreign Minister Rt Hon Winston Peters announced today. “Over 21 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance across Ethiopia, with a further 6.9 million people ...
Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage Paul Goldsmith is congratulating Mataaho Collective for winning the Golden Lion for best participant in the main exhibition at the Venice Biennale. "Congratulations to the Mataaho Collective for winning one of the world's most prestigious art prizes at the Venice Biennale. “It is good ...
The Government is reforming financial services to improve access to home loans and other lending, and strengthen customer protections, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly and Housing Minister Chris Bishop announced today. “Our coalition Government is committed to rebuilding the economy and making life simpler by cutting red tape. We are ...
“China remains a strong commercial opportunity for Kiwi exporters as Chinese businesses and consumers continue to value our high-quality safe produce,” Trade and Agriculture Minister Todd McClay says. Mr McClay has returned to New Zealand following visits to Beijing, Harbin and Shanghai where he met ministers, governors and mayors and engaged in trade and agricultural events with the New ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has completed a successful trip to Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines, deepening relationships and capitalising on opportunities. Mr Luxon was accompanied by a business delegation and says the choice of countries represents the priority the New Zealand Government places on South East Asia, and our relationships in ...
New Zealand is demonstrating its commitment to reducing global greenhouse emissions, and supporting clean energy transition in South East Asia, through a contribution of NZ$41 million (US$25 million) in climate finance to the Asian Development Bank (ADB)-led Energy Transition Mechanism (ETM). Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Climate Change Minister Simon Watts announced ...
By Koroi Hawkins, RNZ Pacific editor Former opposition leader Matthew Wale has been announced as the second prime ministerial candidate ahead of the election in Solomon Islands tomorrow. He will face off against former foreign affairs minister Jeremiah Manele, who was announced by the Coalition for National Unity and Transformation ...
The Government’s spending cuts are again targeting support for Māori with proposed reform of the agency charged with advising on Māori wellbeing and development. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ian Douglas, Honorary Senior Lecturer, UNSW Aviation., UNSW Sydney The history of budget jet airlines in Australia is a long road littered with broken dreams. New entrants have consistently struggled to get a foothold. Low-cost carrier Bonza has just become the industry’s ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rosalind Dixon, Director, Gilbert + Tobin Centre of Public Law, UNSW Sydney Australia is finally having a sustained conversation about violence against women and what we can do about it. It is more than time. Australian women and girls continue to experience ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Stephen Duckett, Honorary Enterprise Professor, School of Population and Global Health, and Department of General Practice and Primary Care, The University of Melbourne stockfour/Shutterstock Preliminary bulk billing data released this week shows a 2.1% rise in bulk billing up to March. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Samantha Schulz, Senior Lecturer, University of Adelaide Australia is once again grappling with how we can stop gendered violence in our country. Protests over the weekend show there is enormous community anger over the number of women who are dying and National ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Martin, Visiting Fellow, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University AnastasiaDudka/Shutterstock What if the government was doing everything it could to stop thieves making off with our money, except the one thing that could really work? That’s how it ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Erin Harrington, Senior Lecturer in English and Cultural Studies, University of Canterbury The Conversation It seems to be a time of old favourites. This month our experts have recommended two new seasons – the second season of Alone Australia (although ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jonti Horner, Professor (Astrophysics), University of Southern Queensland A bright Eta Aquariid meteor photobombed this photo of comet C/2020 F8 (SWAN) in May 2020.Jonti Horner Meteors – commonly known as shooting stars – can be seen on any night of the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tim Flannery, Honorary fellow, The University of Melbourne Shutterstock Current concentrations of carbon dioxide (CO₂) in Earth’s atmosphere are unprecedented in human history. But CO₂ levels today, and those that might occur in coming decades, did occur millions of years ago. ...
Winston Peters has been keen to dismiss speculation on our involvement in Aukus but will give a speech tonight on the direction of our foreign policy, writes Anna Rawhiti-Connell in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoff’s morning news round-up. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Patrick Usmar, Lecturer in Critical Media Literacies, Auckland University of Technology Getty Images With the coalition government’s ban of student mobile phones in New Zealand schools coming into effect this week, reaction has ranged from the sceptical (kids will just get ...
A new report on protecting journalism and democracy in New Zealand recommends a levy be charged on global platforms like Facebook and Google to fund media firms undertaking public interest reporting. It also calls for the reinstatement of a powerful Broadcasting Commission to distribute public funding for journalism and other ...
On International Workers' Day, also known as May Day, the New Zealand Council of Trade Unions Te Kauae Kaimahi and the wider union movement are celebrating the proud history of the labour movement during a tough time for working people. ...
From bills to beards, a walk through the former Green co-leader’s time in politics. After close to a decade in politics, James Shaw is preparing to bid farewell to parliament. Tonight will see the former minister deliver his valedictory address, certain to be a speech filled with Shaw’s trademark wit ...
Two months ago, MPs unanimously voted to give themselves a week off in Efeso Collins’ honour. On Tuesday, most were too busy to give even an hour of their time. The day Fa’anānā Efeso Collins died, parliament felt different. In a building that operates at a breakneck pace, everyone stopped ...
India’s election involves hundreds of millions of people and is a months-long affair. Here’s how voting works and what’s at stake.The biggest-ever election in world history started on April 19, with more than 10% of the world’s population eligible to vote. Elections in India, the world’s most populous country ...
After the Christchurch earthquake, the then-national civil defence boss compared his experience to “putting a team on the rugby field who have never ever played together before”. Now, eight years later – and following a damning inquiry into the emergency response of cyclones Gabrielle, Hale and the Auckland anniversary weekend floods – ...
“I had just come off the end of a major robbery case which I had been working on for six months when I got a call on the afternoon of September 1, 1992, that some remains had been found at a building site in Devonport, so I drove over with ...
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Comment: Journalists are very good at telling other people’s stories, but they fall well short when writing about their own profession. Perhaps that is why it is so undervalued. Every successive poll on the public’s attitude toward journalism is more alarming than the last. In the last month we have ...
Opinion: A young Māori woman and her Pacific partner arrive at their local hospital by ambulance. She has gone into labour at just under 24 weeks, but the couple haven’t recognised the symptoms – and don’t know the risks of premature birth for their baby. By the time they arrive, ...
Behind closed doors, NZ First will be arguing fiercely against any watering down of the ministerial decision-making powers in the Bill The post Bishop backtracks after fast-track backlash appeared first on Newsroom. ...
Emotional scenes played out in the Invercargill courthouse on the first two days of the coronial inquest into the death of Gore toddler Lachlan Jones, in which the boy’s mother was accused of disposing of her son’s body. The second season of Newsroom’s award-nominated podcast The Boy in the Water ...
Opinion: The impression from the carpark is very inviting. The area is well fenced but barred so there is easy visibility of loved ones. Inside, the spaces are welcoming and clean and staff are friendly and clearly comfortable. I am greeted by ‘Kim’. She has worked here for three years, ...
Asia Pacific Report A Pacific civil society alliance has condemned French neocolonial policies in Kanaky New Caledonia, saying Paris is set on “maintaining the status quo” and denying the indigenous Kanak people their inalienable right to self-determination. The Pacific Regional Non-Governmental Organisations (PRNGOs) Alliance, representing some 15 groups, said in ...
Koi Tū New Zealand cannot sit back and see the collapse of its Fourth Estate, the director of Koi Tū: The Centre for Informed Futures, Sir Peter Gluckman, says in the foreword of a paper published today. The paper, “If not journalists, then who?” paints a picture of an industry ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Foreign investment proposals with implications for Australia’s strategic or economic security will face tougher scrutiny, under a policy overhaul to be announced by Treasurer Jim Chalmers on Wednesday. At the same time, the government ...
A Waitangi Tribunal inquiry report has warned government that a repeal of Section 7AA of the Oranga Tamariki Act could cause harm to children in care. ...
The Treasury has published today three new papers covering government consumption multipliers, automatic stabilisers and the impacts of global shocks on New Zealand’s economy. ...
Asia Pacific Report The Pacific state of Hawai’i’s House of Representatives has joined the state’s Senate in calling for a ceasefire in Israel’s war on Gaza, becoming the first state to pass such a resolution, reports Hawaii News Now. In March, the Senate passed a ceasefire resolution with a 24–1 ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Christopher Ferrie, A/Prof, UTS Chancellor’s Postdoctoral Research and ARC DECRA Fellow, University of Technology Sydney PsiQuantum The Australian government has announced a pledge of approximately A$940 million (US$617 million) to PsiQuantum, a quantum computing start-up company based in Silicon Valley. Half ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Hunter Bennett, Lecturer in Exercise Science, University of South Australia Cameron Prins/Shutterstock If you spend a lot of time exploring fitness content online, you might have come across the concept of heart rate zones. Heart rate zone training has become more ...
SPECIAL REPORT:By Eugene Doyle He is the most popular Palestinian leader alive today — and yet few people in the West even know his name. Absolutely no one in Gaza or the West Bank does not know him. That difference speaks volumes about who dominates the media narrative that ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Will McCallum, PhD Candidate – School of Communication and Creative Arts, Deakin University Earlier this year, Opposition Leader Peter Dutton accused Prime Minister Anthony Albanese of not supporting Operation Sovereign Borders – the military-led border security operation that has “closed Australia’s borders ...
By Melyne Baroi in Port Moresby A Papua New Guinea MP, Peter Isoaimo, who had been ousted by the National Court in an alleged bribery case, has been reinstated by the Supreme Court on appeal. A three-member Supreme Court bench found that the National Court had erred in finding that ...
Publisher Chris Holdaway reflects on the unique project of collecting the work of the late, terrific poet Schaeffer Lemalu. One of the nice things you can do as a truly independent publisher is to make the books that writers want to make, whatever they happen to be. That’s how I’ve ...
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Good coverage at the daily blog on the whole RNZ story.
Be nice if this country had some more journalists with courage. Instead too many have made a virtue of stenographers and gotcha hacks. This will happen when we suck on the propaganda bubble.
The Daily Blog weekly measurably descends further and further into a conspiracy theory laden cesspit of stupidity.
It is difficult to over-emphasise how much the The Daily Blog has drifted to a far right conspiracy theory site these days. Bradbury makes claims about events conducted by "the woke" and "the professional middle class" that happen outside the realm of observation, that are often outlandish and far-fetched, and that are not even necessarily meant to be believed, but rather function as part of his on going smear campaigns against his vast array of enemies real and imagined.
It's being part of being of the alt media, here man of the people/popular masses/working class against the establiishment.
Being one of that group, while of the left, reminds one of the Strasser brothers, however Bomber is more the man vs woke liberal feminists than an ally of the race based social conservatives.
You handle the Gonzo nature of TDB or not I guess. It started out with union sponsors and some pretty good writers, most of whom rarely contribute any more. Wayne Hope, Susan St. John, Dr David Robie and Mike Treen being exceptions albeit not regularly.
It is a bit of a blocked S–bend the way a bunch of nutters have slipped their collar from various right wing blogs and been encouraged at TDB. The “woke” meme and late 90s look are indeed tiresome.
And…The Standard…some great people here, and some unrepentant Rogernomes.
I agree with Sanc re BB's writing style, it's combative, puerile and reads like an absolute dog. I wish he had someone to second and make his thoughts more readable, as there is a lot of good stuff that's he's trying to say amongst all that.
I suggested he hire Toby Manhire to write on his behalf (instead of just railing about him), as that guy can seriously write, but the comment got blocked .
Case of attack the messenger and not the message. Or in a political debate we'd call that a straw-man in search of missing the point.
Indeed. The pieces you link to weren't written by Bomber.
next time put the authors' names in your comment rather than say it's TDB, might get more engagement. Quotes always help too.
When people hide the URL in an embedded link, people can't see what the post is about, and imo they're less likely to click through.
Sorry weka but those types of ad hominem towards Martyn Bradbury are lazy and quite childish.
If people want to write emotive knee jerk responses, I'm not responsible for their laziness.
you can't really complain about that if you're too stubborn to change yourself 🤷♀️
I see what redlogix meant now…
I was a regular contributor to TDB for a few years but eventually got sick and tired of Bradbury's woke rants, the trolls and nutters who just wanted to abuse people, not engage in any meaningful debate. So I came here instead, much better.
How would you feel if I altered your comments without telling you and without your permission so that they would convey quite a different message?
Did he change anything written by RNZ or just foreign sourced reports?
Reuters might have a complaint with RNZ though, about the impact on its reputation.
IDK
Exactly. He could/should have asked to write his own rebuttal. Wouldn't have been permitted of course.
Like Max Blumenthal has here.
https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1669228835936632832.html
False equivalence, it's not personal for starters. Secondly, journalism is not stenography.
Reports off the wire get changed all the time, to full out the context and put it into the local context.
This time someone stuck it to propaganda spewing from a source, and people are acting like the world collapsed.
War makes liars of all sides. If you think one side is telling the truth all the time, I have these NFT's I'd like to sell you…
Such is sensible journalism. I suspect what the controversy is about is misrepresentation though. Amending stuff from Reuters would only have an ethical basis if the editor declared that the story had been amended…
Not for me it's propaganda pure and simple. One person got caught not reporting the official narrative, and its' a shit storm. Ugly times.
There is too much pro-Ukraine (almost propaganda) floating around in the MSM. It has been good to see a note of realism in the reporting of the recent Ukraine offensive operations.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/jun/14/ukraine-failed-assault-near-mala-tokmachka-raises-counteroffensive-challenges
But I have difficulty with praise for The Daily Blog. Bomber's growing obsession with wokeness is frankly weird. And now he is criticising the Green's radical Wealth Tax saying:
"but the reliance on a the wealth tax to do all the heavy lifting here is simply delusional."
https://thedailyblog.co.nz/2023/06/16/why-green-party-wealth-tax-is-only-part-of-the-solution-and-cant-be-the-only-solution-and-why-ftt-and-land-tax-are/
This is also weird-I thought Bomber was strongly in favour of a WT and to my knowledge the Greens have not ruled out other measures in addition to this. But he is right that a Land Tax is a good option.
Totally agree Adam.
I would suggest that some of the Standard's commentators fall into the same category for criticism as RNZ, hence the vitriolic attacks on the Daily Blog above.
The words of Chris Trotter
Orthodoxy and Dissidence at the Standard – that would make a good post.
The main reasons the Daily Blog is criticised is 1) it's owner appears to be a deeply unpleasant bully and 2) the site is riddled with conspiracy thinking and alt-right memes. You only have to read the comments section to see the place attracts lunatics and losers by the bucketload.
Bradbury's predilection for objectifying his enemies as collectively part of some sort of organised conspiracy is disturbing, and he seldom offers much by way of constructive solutions to anything. His posts generally consist of the same cut-and-pasted talking points endlessly and bombastically re-cycled. I mean, the guy believes in flying saucers FFS.
I think a key difference between many of the contributors on this site and TDB is the Standard contains many people who have had successful careers working with or as part of institutions, and they bring with that actual life experience and insight into the difficulties of generating change in an environment that is ambiently hostile to even moderately left wing agendas. The TBD consists largely of serial complainers and professional fringe merchants who long ago fell victim to the romance of dissidence and whilst they are veterans of protest, they offer little by way of practical insight on how to get change over the line.
Bradbury is an egotistical blowhard and a serial chancer whose failed attempts of being a disrupter to the hated establishment included buddying up to Kim Dotcom, because – surprise, surprise – he thought the Internet party would be the "king makers" who'd shake thing up. Nowadays he shills TOP and Maori party as the latest batters up in his quest to get payback on the establishment.
He attracts some interesting commentators who should know better to his podcast I believe but the site itself is just a shithole.
Um..!..top have some good policies..
It is their using their votes to prop up a right-wing govt..that is their danger for any left-leaning voter seduced by those policies..
..and unsure of for why your apparent disdain for the maori party..?
I see them..along with the greens..as being the spine labour is so lacking..
That spinal deficit has been heavily underlined by their recent stint of total power..
And what they didn't do with it…
TPM seem to me to be largely interested in playing performative games as they really don't want to recognise the legitimacy of parliamentary government in NZ. Insofar as they don't believe in our current democratic arrangements or the legitimacy of the "settler state" they have no business with accepting a seat and salary within it's institutions.
TOP are a contradiction in terms, a centrist anti-establishment party. In reality it is just another attempt at the suppression of politics with "applied common sense".
I think the key word in your assessment of tpm is 'performative'..
But dig down and their social policies are old school labour/dismantling of the neoliberal policies adhered to by labour post ' '84.
And they are a tidy fit with the social policies of the greens..(hence my spine metaphor..)
But looking past the 'performative'..much of tpm is whathat labour used to be all about..
Another interesting aspect of this is I heard on mainstream media..that is that there has been a noticable increase on those on the maori roll..having moved from the general roll..
And as far as that is concerned..I can only see tpm benefitting from that shift..
And to my mind this will be a very good/coalition spine-building thing…
Luckily the standard is not just a reflection of it commentators, otherwise it might be misread as a elitist, smug collection of know it all's who think their farts don't smell.
I knew I recognised your nose pressed up against the window of the elitist annual dinner.
We dined on foie gras, endangered creatures and seasoned it all with Martyn Bradbury’s salty tears. And oh! How we laughed.
If I was you, I wouldn't be giving up my day job with that po-faced response.
Alas, adam, you are the po-faced one:
'She remained po-faced all evening, even when the rest of us were in stitches at Bob's jokes.'
https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/po-faced
While not in stitches, I certainly grinned at Sanctuary's comment.
No prizes for seconds
Of course as a vegan…(no rotting meat in there)…my farts don't smell..
And if they did they would have a je ne sais quoi quality..
And I do think I know some shit about some stuff…
(Maybe that makes me ' smug'..?..and as a believer in education.. maybe also 'elitist'..?
Guilty as charged…?
Kathryn Ryan interviews researcher Joan Donovan on media fact checking, political weaponsiation of memes
Very topical interview.
a critique of Trotter's position on free speech from a reddit discussion 10 months ago that sums up him up nicely.
' ….Because the narrative that [Trotter] is constructing is one that the left wing, not the right, is actively dismantling and destroying the system of rights and privileges that we as a democracy have..
…It's dangerous because what it does is shift the narrative from the clear and present danger being presented by the far right to our democracy and social cohesion to one being presented by the left; spearheaded by a Labour government with all infinite power to change our lives via a majority in Parliament and further supported by the Greens and their "extremist" views.
It portrays those on the far right, and on the right in general, as very much victims of a wider plot by the left to shut them out of democracy and violating their freedom of expression. It's an attempt to gaslight the public into believing that they are the "true victims" of perceived state repression and paint them in a more positive light by dressing their cause up as a resistance to overbearing government mandates and regulations, the dark veil of "censorship" via "cancel culture", and the many other talking points of the culture war the right has wholesale adopted from elsewhere.'
Censorship is a slippery sloop and far to many on the left and the right have embraced it as normal.
But to call someone far right for opposing the curtailing of free speech, or anti-democratic is really clutching at straws.
It's censorship if facts are suppressed, but it's not facts that are the weapons of choice, but disinformation, feelings, nebulous rumours, fostering political tribalism, and hate-filled othering of minorities.
Listen to the RNZ interview: ethical journalists and truthful(ish) governments are caught in a stick: reportage to debunk becomes amplification of the lies.
Did you miss the opening remarks, they have convicted the reporter and effectively calling him a Putin puppet. Then moan how could this happen to RNZ.
You undercut you own argument by that piece of reporting being emotive, fostering political tribalism, and disinformation. Their feeling have been hurt and the digital reporter is to blame.
It felt like a skit from not the nine o'clock news. This is why I hardly listen to RNZ after it got gutted by Key and co. 9 till noon is just truly awful, the stasi would be proud.
Yeah, that default to a mainstreamer view eternally propounded by state media has always irritated me too. You can see why online culture has proliferated alt views. Trouble is, too many are delusional.
It's the antique conundrum: caught between the devil & the deep blue sea. The devil works within the control system to direct state media toward controller-approved narratives while competing storytellers have another toke & hallucinate. However the good news is that we can escape that binary via a third alternative: relativise all views.
The 21st century alt-media ocean is treacherous. We'd like somewhere to stand on common ground, but it's all awash out there…
It's delusional to think we live in societies without bias. It's that Chomsky thing, where to function together, we have to agree on a few basic stories about ourselves. Of course governments shape that narrative.
I became aware of 'party lines' at the age of 10 or so. The Catholic magazine, Zelandia I think it was, had a different version of events in the 'Irish Troubles' from the BBC-derived story on tv news here. And, of course, there was the gap between scurrilous, but true, Wellington gossip Muldoon and what appeared in national media. Oh, and working out that Readers Digest toilet reading spun emotive yarns.
That why we have brains, to learn how detect bullshit when it's being flogged to us.Unfortunately, Trump began an avalanche of ‘alternative facts’ in political discourse. Chaff strewing wasa Nazi propaganda tactic – put so much in the water that facts and logical discourse become obscured by outrage of the day.
So…who do you 'listen to' adam..?
Hosking perchance..?
No, The ABC in Australia mainly their Phil
Abc is solid enough…
It has it own set of problems. But on the whole I find it better than most here. Also broader in the people and opinions it expresses. Bigger population helps.
During the submissions on RNZ and TVNZ I put forward the idea, That the ABC take over operations of our public media, and tax the banks to pay for it – as they are Australian anyway.
Reuters produces general news content, and does not allow change of their content of without permission, which is what the RNZ editor did. This broke both the editor's responsibility as an employee, and RNZ's terms and conditions with Reuters.
Here's Reuters rating for factual reliability. 'Reuters achieved the fifth-highest score for any site that we analyzed. This suggests that articles from Reuters are highly neutral in their reporting, strictly conveying information in an objective and unbiased way.'
And here is RTs rating. 'RT scored an average Factual Grade of 41.8%, placing it in the 1st percentile of our dataset. This is the third-lowest score for any site that we analyzed.'
Really, quoting the corporate web site factual who is owned by yahoo – who in turn are owned by Apollo Asset Management a company who ranks rather low on most trust meters, and quite high on the corporate spin meters is rather funny. Irony is such a harsh task master.
What the does the straw man RT have to do with anything?
In wars people lie. Short and simple. Don't think for one minute Reuters are above it, they have been caught lying before and lying by omission is still a lie.
This is old, but it might help
https://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Politics/2022/0304/They-seem-so-like-us-How-bias-creeps-into-war-reporting
What a great site – new to me – thanks.
https://www.thefactual.com/blog/biased-factual-reliable-new-sources/
'The Factual' analyses (among many things) articles written by media organisations/news sources to obtain a "Factual Grade", and a "Writing Tone" metric (how neutral/opinionated articles are) for each source.
According to the info in that link, "Reuters scored an average Factual Grade of 69.8%", which places it in 42nd place (of 239 sources analysed.) Reuters' average 'Writing Tone' score was 0.80, which has the much higher ranking of 5th place.
So, Reuters is pretty good overall, and better for 'Tone' than 'Factual'.
Interestingly (unsurprisingly?), five of the top ten 'Factual' sources have strong STEM themes:
Smithsonian Magazine…85.9%
Science Alert………………..80.9%
Space.com……………………80.5%
MIT Technology Review 75.9%
New Scientist……………….75.4%
"Publisher Bias" is "Center" for all five of these sources.
It makes my geeky heart sing to see New Scientist in the top 5.
But what happens when so-called disinformation turns out to be true? If we quickly censor it (the truth) as disinformation, it would never come out.
For example, Nicky Hager vs the NZ Defence Force.
https://www.nbr.co.nz/defence-cover-up-starts-to-unravel/
That’s merely one reason why what you are pushing/supporting needs to be stopped.
Something very odd at the end of the article discussing the Australian diplomat. Apparently Luke Harding wants to highlight the diplomats involvement in the now discredited Trump Russia investigation. That looks rather odd coming from the author of the book 'Collusion', promoting the whole conspiracy.
Neoliberals do gradualism routinely. The idea is that Adam's Smith's invisible hand takes a while to get moving – but boy, it sure is inertial once it gets moving.
Accuse me of heresy if you like, but a big spend-up to eliminate .06% of a problem ain't no master-stroke. However, David Parker sometimes gets it right – best to wait & see.
So the difference between National & Labour re climate change is the difference between do nothing and do something infinitesimally small. Simon Upton does us all a favour by high-lighting this dramatic difference between the right & the left.
Reading that:
So close down Tiwai.
Can you explain the hydrogen comment? I keep hearing it's "just storage" not generation, but isn't that the same with fuel? I'm a bit lost in the forest of it (sorry about that and thanks).
Would be good to hear from this expert: https://info.scoop.co.nz/Molly_Melhuish
Local & bioregional applications seem more inherently interesting than the macro view into the national grid. https://www.newsroom.co.nz/scaling-down-hydrogen-to-our-communities
Paul the Other One discusses the safety meaures recommended for election candidates this year.
The CT crowd engendered from Covid measures has mutated into a general anti-democracy movement.
Thanks tWiggle – I do hope that the 'make NZ ungovernable' anti-democracy movement doesn't grow, but multiple global challenges are fuelling conspiracy theories/theorists.
Would value- (save lives), evidence-based responses to pandemic threats have caused a smaller ripple of disaffection 40 years ago? Possibly less 'entitled exceptionalism', no online social media amplifying fringe theories, and less backlash against 'team of 3 million'-type memes? It may be self deception, but I'd like to think so.
To boil down your posts, and what a slog, they are all about anti-radicalization in any form.
Which in the face of economic beating most people are taking is well, I'll let you decide.
Plus the climate crisis, this pressure on people and their lives is just getting worse.
Come on, be honest with people. About the economic situation they are in and why its that way – and most of this crap about conspiracy theories will fall by the way side.
To pretend that this system is fine, and people are not suffering from this hellish economic b.s. – makes you just as bad, if not worse, than those pushing conspiracy theories.
And because we all need a laugh
http://www.itanimulli.com/
adam, sorry you feel that I'm "just as bad, if not worse, than those pushing conspiracy theories" – let's agree to disagree. "From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs" [Marx] may not be sufficiently radical for you, but it appeals to me as a way through our footprint-related challenges. I favour greatly increasing wealth redistribution – recent Green party policies would be a start.
https://www.greens.org.nz/ending_poverty_together
Here's a subset of TS comments that mention this idea of Marx.
.https://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-13-05-2019/#comment-1616295
.https://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-01-10-2020/#comment-1755513
.https://thestandard.org.nz/nzme-is-on-a-mission-to-change-the-government/#comment-1859605
.https://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-30-08-2022/#comment-1908223
.https://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-13-05-2023/#comment-1949949
seems such a strange take on my comment(s). Many Kiwis are suffering real deprivation. If "pushing conspiracy theories" has the potential to alleviate financial hardship, then "show me the money", but imho many conspiracy theories are at best distractions, and often used by grifters to cynically manipulate their marks.
My apologies for my clumsy writing, it was not meant as a personal attack. It was meant as an attack on the pieces posted, and their push to quell any and all radicalization to the current system.
And yes I find Marx lacking in many ways. His analytical skills are second to none, but, his social solutions show up his class, race, and misogyny. Engels was a more rounded figure in that regard.
As for economic deprivation, poverty is a breading ground for all sorts of tomfoolery. Especially the self destructive kind. Conspiracy theories are right up there with substance abuse and self mutilation. None produce economic benefit, but all fill a gap in a persons life. As you say, a situation easily exploited in a society such as ours. Where the greedy keep trying to fill their craven needs.
Thanks DM Kram for listing those refs.
I was delighted to see that despite what Michael Wood has gone through (OK, he should have got rid of those damn shares much earlier), he still has managed a quick reposte to Erica Stanford's witterings on the AM show this morning. Being retired, I don't do mornings, let alone what passes for morning TV shows, though I was up bright and bushy tailed today to do battle at our local CAB. I came across this snippet on STUFF and had a wee chortle. I also took note of Erica Stanford on '7 Days' last evening in the 'Yes Minister' segment. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the format, a parliamentarian, Minister, Back Bencher, Govt or Opposition MP cames in to answer questions which are pretty loaded and they are not to answer YES or NO. Our Erica was in jovial spirits and answering correctly until she didn't and said the Y word, so that was that. She looked as black as her outfit when told to vacate the stage – the old saying came to me 'if looks could kill'. I don't think she was a happy chappy.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/300907038/weve-never-gone-quite-that-far–tv-gaffe-leaves-mps-in-awkward-laughter