An Appeal To The Left: On Purity And The Media

Written By: - Date published: 6:00 am, November 10th, 2024 - 11 comments
Categories: casey costello, david seymour, Media, social media, spin, taxpayers union - Tags:

Republished from the Mountain Tui Substack

I often reflect on how much hysteria there was around Golriz Ghahraman – journalists parked outside her home for a week after she admitted fault.

The hyper-attention and headlines the media maintained for days on end, despite Golriz’s admissions and the justice system running its course.

Yet contrast that with Casey Costello – who has been successfully avoiding all media except friendly right wing platforms.

A few designer dresses is newsworthy but setting aside $216mn of taxpayers money for a global tobacco company is not?

And omitting $46bn of benefits to NZ from of her smoke-free generation paper isn’t worth a pursuit even though tobacco and heated tobacco products will likely kill Kiwis, and burden our health system inexorably?

What about the pass media give to Luxon on his innumerable lies – and at this point there’s a lot of them e.g. the 22% Y8 Maths statistic on a never taught curriculum he and Stanford repeat or on Health NZ?

The only person who I’ve readily seen run after the politicians is Benedict Collins (TVNZ) and I find most journalists end up writing fluff pieces even if they challenge Luxon during the press conferences that I watch.

It took me a while to understand a number of facets:

1. David Seymour seems to have “promised” hard times for media earlier this year. I know because I wrote about it. He ‘threatened’ TVNZ with paying a dividend even as their financials flailed – and just as Newshub was announcing it was going to close.

2. David Seymour personally attacked reporter Benedict Collins in March for his reporting on Luxon’s $52,000 ‘I am entitled’ tax free allowance – even though Seymour is not allowed to as a Shareholding Minister of TVNZ.

3. He then said our media was full of “enormous self pity” – again as a Crown Minister. (Luxon defended him)

4. David Seymour told Sean Plunkett (who is funded by the Wright family and hosts Holocaust denier Candace Owens) that our media in NZ produced “hateful” content, and he and this right wing government would ensure that they changed the people running media

5. NZME with their multiple brands is a corporate mouthpiece with an Atlas Network affiliated Chairperson – enough said.

6. Taxpayers Union frequently attacks RNZ and TVNZ and calls for them to be defunded or sold

7. ACT refuses to turn up to RNZ Morning Show because Seymour claims they are “disrespectful” (code for they call him out on his weak logic and hypocrisy).

TLDR:

The media is either weak, and in an environment where the pettiness or intentions of the government cannot be understated – and/or they are corporate mouthpieces which are allies to this government i.e. Newstalk ZB and NZ Herald.

The problem is media landscape is dying – ad revenues are being squeezed – and the ones with the money are the ones buying the news outlets and staff.

I urge the public and all Kiwis to care and rally for PUBLIC INTEREST journalism – it’s the only way forward.

PS

To add:

News media is stuck between a rock and a hard place too.

The problem with years of toxic misinformation is that it poisons the population’s beliefs and understanding.

There are many many, many, Kiwis who still believe the lies of this Coalition government e.g. there is no money left, Labour spent it all etc. when that’s simply far from our financial reality.

They don’t understand that Nicola Willis’s budget deficit this year exceeds all budgets of Labour, bar Covid.

Or she borrowed $12bn more for tax cuts – not for a global pandemic to save lives and livelihoods. Indeed, as Bernard Hickey reported, $10bn of those tax cuts went to the richest 40% in our country.

Willis also threw away $1bn (1000 x $1mn) on the Interislander cancellation because they probably wanted to sell it at first.

But folks hold beliefs often rabidly and even if you show them the financials, they are more likely to fight than to agree.

Media has to try to tow a line for now – especially when it is under threat.

I spoke to someone in journalism and they said the government’s attacks on journalists earlier this year had been “chilling.”

And as ad revenues decline and journalists lose resources, the compounding effect is they become weaker and weaker and weaker – weak enough to be subsumed.

TVNZ overall – and I have my disputes too – are still bringing us a lot of stories that matter e.g. Paul Goldmsith removing Te Reo Maori, Casey Costello lying again etc.

RNZ has kept stories on Health NZ alive.

We need to support our media if we can – even if they aren’t perfect.

So long as they are not actual right wing mouthpieces like Newstalk or The Platform, I tend to give them some benefit of the doubt.

I urge my friends and associates to do the same – while the newsrooms and journalists remain intact.

My only caveat is if and as this government succeeds in changing things enough, it might get hairy

(My article Making It Make Sense – What Happened, and What We Need To Look Out For With Media talks through that too)

EXTRAS

Which papers to trust in this day and age?

  • Guardian is phenomenal and relies on user subscriptions and donations
  • Newsroom picks up the data with intelligence and precision. They do publish a range of views but I find Marc Daalder and Jonathan Milne to produce reliable fact based content.
  • RNZ still does good work while it can and has done God’s work re: covering the Casey Costello developments (that no-one else touches) and Health NZ developments
  • Otago Daily Times
  • New Zealand Geographic which has not been shy about its financial challenges
  • TVNZ hosts Q & A and 1News’ Benedict Collins has broken many stories with courage. Christopher Luxon is still too afraid to front Q&A but has promised to before year end.
  • I don’t follow Spinoff but they’ve broken some exceptional stories including Paul Goldsmith’s inappropriate appointment of NZ’s Human Rights Commissioner, and The Wright Family Funds Sean Plunkett

11 comments on “An Appeal To The Left: On Purity And The Media ”

  1. barry 1
    10 November 2024 at 8:57 am

    You have to remember that news media is about entertainment. Golriz shoplifting a few thousand is entertaining in a way that a billion or 2 in tax cuts or cancelled ferries is not.

    So yes we need to support good journalism (with money as well as views). We also need to avoid the clickbait items that get the pageviews up for the crap stories.

    Reply
  2. mickysavage 2
    10 November 2024 at 9:58 am

    Good post Tui.

    US election result can be at least partially put down to the right wing media there and their relentless presentation of everything with a right wing slant.

    Reply
    • SPC 2.1
      10 November 2024 at 10:05 am

      The MSM there has been/was/is somewhat critical of Trump, but this focus obstructed the normal discourse on policy.

      The Democratic Party needs to find another vehicle to get cut through on comms – messaging on policy. Many voters seemed unaware of what tariffs meant for the prices of the goods they buy. .

      Reply
    • Mountain Tui 2.2
      10 November 2024 at 11:05 am

      Micky – Thanks, I will write another post at some point about this whole set up – we've been set up to fail for a long time.

      Cheers and have a great Sunday.

      Reply
    • tc 2.3
      11 November 2024 at 8:24 am

      ABC's media watch showed a survey where the non RW media gave trump alot more coverage than harris so bit of an own goal there.

      Reply
  3. gsays 3
    10 November 2024 at 11:28 am

    Love yr work M.T., clearly a lot of time goes into it.

    One observation from the fallout in the US and to a slightly lesser extent, here.

    Giving attention to which paper suits is akin to generals building bigger crossbows when gunpowder is being deployed on the battlefield.

    Trump got millions of eyes and ears when he, largely waffled, on the Joe Rogan Experience. Eyes and ears of the often disengaged- young males.

    For the left to prevail here, two things need to change. The message and it's means of delivery.

    Reply
  4. joe90 4
    10 November 2024 at 12:16 pm

    The problem with years of toxic misinformation is that it poisons the population’s beliefs and understanding.

    And, if tRumps 2022 intentions to go after fact checkers come to pass, it can only going get worse.

    .

    President Donald J. Trump — Free Speech Policy Initiative

    December 15, 2022

    […]

    The censorship cartel must be dismantled and destroyed — and it must happen immediately. And here is my plan:

    FIRST, within hours of my inauguration, I will sign an executive order banning any federal department or agency from colluding with any organization, business, or person, to censor, limit, categorize, or impede the lawful speech of American citizens. I will then ban federal money from being used to label domestic speech as “mis-” or “dis-information”. And I will begin the process of identifying and firing every federal bureaucrat who has engaged in domestic censorship—directly or indirectly—whether they are the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Health and Human Services, the FBI, the DOJ, no matter who they are.

    […]

    FIFTH, the time has finally come for Congress to pass a digital Bill of Rights. This should include a right to digital due process—in other words, government officials should need a COURT ORDER to take down online content, not send information requests such as the FBI was sending to Twitter.
    Furthermore, when users of big online platforms have their content or accounts removed, throttled, shadow-banned, or otherwise restricted no matter what name they use, they should have the right to be informed that it’s happening, the right to a specific explanation of the reason why, and the right to a timely appeal. In addition, all users over the age of 18 should have the right to opt-out of content moderation and curation entirely, and receive an unmanipulated stream of information if they so choose.

    https://archive.li/drhCl

    Reply
  5. Binders full of women 5
    10 November 2024 at 1:38 pm

    I still find myself listening to NatRadio four or five times a week and esp like Country Life & Simon/Phil Matinee Idol. Haven't watched TVNZ for years but I did see a clip of 4 giggling idiots shooting (!??!!) a Trump doll. That none of them or their many camera people/producers etc said 'umm dunno if this is a great idea..' makes me wonder about their future/intellect/contribution to society. TV is now just for Netflix & the odd bit of free sport on Sky Open.

    Reply
  6. Eric Mischefski 6
    11 November 2024 at 4:00 pm

    I emailed Q+A twice in recent time asking if they would do a piece on the covid subsidy fraud of $10B committed by NZ businesses and to ask the question why this is not being pursued by MSD. It is shocking how gov't chases beneficiaries for $1M fraud but business gets a free pass. Q+A acknowledged receipt of my email but said they did not read all emails due to the volume.

    Reply

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