Written By: - Date published: 5:34 pm, April 12th, 2017 - 48 comments
If you’re determined to believe that western liberal democracy is essentially benign and only ever makes mistakes and honest mis-judgements, or is something that’s sometimes marred by an odd ‘bad apple’ or two, then this post on Syria probably isn’t the post for you.
Written By: - Date published: 9:17 am, April 10th, 2017 - 77 comments
“Has the meaning of book Hit and Run been obscured by all the claims and counter-claims in the media?” – Yes of course it has, and that is a deliberate strategy on the part of people who are desperate to avoid an inquiry.
Written By: - Date published: 9:01 am, April 9th, 2017 - 70 comments
On RNZ Guyon Espiner is running what will be a fascinating series, The 9th Floor, consisting of interviews with five ex NZ PMs. First up on Friday was Sir Geoffrey Palmer, “reflecting on the revolutionary fourth Labour government and his year as one of its three Prime Ministers”.
Written By: - Date published: 9:04 am, April 7th, 2017 - 10 comments
Unfolding in Australia, but obviously relevant here, bad news for Farifax media staff and their editorial independence.
Written By: - Date published: 9:00 am, April 3rd, 2017 - 22 comments
The lobbying body for fishing industry and Nathan Guy who is the responsible minister think there is no conflict of interest in the lobbying body inheriting huge powers previously held by the Ministry for Primary Industries.
Written By: - Date published: 7:03 am, April 3rd, 2017 - 154 comments
It’s likely that some time this week Bill English will announce that there will be no inquiry into operation Burnham. The NZDF will lose any opportunity to clear its name. Fronting up to the truth, whatever it may be, is better than the perception of a shabby coverup.
Update: And there it is – no inquiry.
Written By: - Date published: 12:51 pm, March 27th, 2017 - 58 comments
While much of the coverage of the housing crisis focuses on buyers, the situation facing renters is just as bad. Last week The Spinoff ran an excellent series on renting in NZ: “It’s getting desperate out there”.
Written By: - Date published: 2:05 pm, March 26th, 2017 - 17 comments
Not so much a tale of two cities as the tales we were spun in relation to one.
Written By: - Date published: 9:20 am, March 24th, 2017 - 47 comments
I’m finding that the way that stories are reported rather interesting and full of hidden bias. Looking at the London attack and the “Hit and Run” stories, you have to ask about what editors and some journalists choose to focus on in stories. They often seem to miss the point about why things happen and what the consequences are.
Written By: - Date published: 7:00 am, March 22nd, 2017 - 59 comments
The book’s synopsis, background, and Q and A from Nicky Hager and Jon Stephenson.
Written By: - Date published: 4:26 pm, March 21st, 2017 - 137 comments
A post to allow discussion on Nicky Hager’s book launch scheduled for 5 pm today.
Written By: - Date published: 3:00 pm, March 21st, 2017 - 5 comments
Is having a strong, independent media an essential part of a functioning democracy? What is the role of the ‘Fourth Estate’ in today’s world? Are the media doing a good job of keeping citizens informed?
People’s Commission has its final workshops in Auckland, and how to submit online
Written By: - Date published: 7:02 am, March 20th, 2017 - 128 comments
Multinationals exploit our tax laws to pay no tax in NZ. Matt Nippert has been doing great work on this, and his latest this weekend on Apple is a powerful example. Planned changes to our laws don’t go far enough. We need to fix this. What’s the downside? What’s the delay?
Written By: - Date published: 12:53 pm, March 13th, 2017 - 4 comments
The shiny new newsroom website is now up and running. They have a strong team, and a great first scoop on the sale of falsely labelled “free range” eggs.
Written By: - Date published: 2:19 pm, February 25th, 2017 - 54 comments
It is day 37 of Donald Trump’s reign as POTUS. Today he decided to attack elements of the press that have been critical of him by banning them from a press conference.
Written By: - Date published: 7:00 am, February 16th, 2017 - 86 comments
“The obligation of a journalist is to serve the public”
Written By: - Date published: 9:00 am, February 11th, 2017 - 9 comments
If you didn’t catch up with this in The Herald this week – Under The Bridge – you should take a look now. An excellent piece of long-form journalism.
Written By: - Date published: 8:37 am, February 8th, 2017 - 30 comments
The Government is finally moving to adopt Labour policy and loosen requirements for the use of medicinal cannabis.
Written By: - Date published: 1:59 pm, February 7th, 2017 - 26 comments
A guest post from Enzo Giordani’s outlining his personal experience of the latest Waitangi day celebrations at Waitangi.
Written By: - Date published: 12:30 pm, January 23rd, 2017 - 12 comments
So what’s important? Millions on the streets and what might become of that, or how many more or fewer people attended a given President’s big day? Just asking…
Written By: - Date published: 10:22 am, December 31st, 2016 - 172 comments
Ordinary Syrian people on Aleppo.
Written By: - Date published: 2:10 pm, December 19th, 2016 - 22 comments
A Turkish journalist writes about the “post-truth” collapse of human rights in Turkey, and warns “western” readers that the same thing is happening to them.
Written By: - Date published: 9:24 pm, December 11th, 2016 - 86 comments
Newshub has revealed the attempt to seal Pike River mine is now facing both legal, and physical, roadblocks.
Written By: - Date published: 6:12 am, December 4th, 2016 - 169 comments
Audrey Young: “The Labour leader has described the win as ‘a bloody nose for National’. It is more like a bloody nose, a black eye and broken jaw.”
Update: As of 11am not a single story on Mt Roskill appears on the online front pages of either The Herald or Stuff. What a surprise!
Written By: - Date published: 8:17 am, November 30th, 2016 - 148 comments
In which pundit r0b has a wee rant about media pundits. Yeah I know…
Written By: - Date published: 10:11 am, November 28th, 2016 - 161 comments
Fake stories were widely shared by Trump fans before the election. Why is leftie / liberal fake news much rarer? A fake news writer explains.
Written By: - Date published: 8:36 am, November 27th, 2016 - 25 comments
Lisa Owen interviewed Key on The Nation yesterday. As usual Key spent half his time denying facts and figures – in this case from Treasury and from his own government sources.
Written By: - Date published: 10:07 am, November 23rd, 2016 - 17 comments
This is just something that gets my goat, and there was a particularly egregious example on the RNZ Business News this morning. Apparently Wall St was going ‘gangbusters’, and the reason they came up with for that was ‘Wall St’ liking Donald Trump’s policies (lowering tax and building infrastructure apparently). Not long ago Wall St […]
Written By: - Date published: 8:19 am, November 23rd, 2016 - 131 comments
Revelations surrounding the role of fake news in the American election have been stunning. And the critical thinking skills that democracy needs to survive this trend are under attack in our education system.
Written By: - Date published: 2:38 pm, November 20th, 2016 - 7 comments
Apparently today, Netsafe will start acting as the “Approved Agency” of the Harmful Digital Communications Act 2015. This is an act that is meant to deal with some of the excessive online abuse and bullying. Unfortunately it doesn’t appear to me that Netsafe is currently capable of dealing with the task. Instead they look like incompetent monkeys.
Written By: - Date published: 9:30 am, November 15th, 2016 - 34 comments
Investigative journalist Nicky Hager has been awarded interim legal costs towards $475,082 spent suing police.
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